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our hearts it s easy to believe in a greater force a bigger picture of endurance and continuity how can we connect to this how do we look into the future and answer the question what will happen next curious about adopting scrying for you collection visit the allegory gallery website posted by andrew thornton at 9 09 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday may 29 2020 ablaze i didn t get to make as many pieces as i would have liked this month but i got more done than i would have if i didn t i might have to assign themes for myself to help keep the momentum up are there any challenge prompts for june i know there s inktober in october mab graves and stephanie law both do them too i used to do this thing called illustration friday on my blog back in the day normally this time of year would be spent preparing for the bead button show in milwaukee we d be burning the midnight oil something furious up until we left i ve been known to even work in the car driving out and finishing up last minute details in the hotel room lol but with covid 19 they ve postponed the event until august i don t know if we ll be going or not really who has any plans these days it seems like nothing is certain the other drawback to the postponement of the show is that we won t be making the money we normally do we also won t be able to bring in new inventory like we do when we attend a big show we ll figure something out but i digress i was going through pictures of the ocean as you do when you re making mermaid artwork and some images popped up of kelp forests i was instantly drawn to them even though it was underwater the way the light filtered through the kelp leaves there was this beautiful fiery glow in some of the pictures it looked like a dark chamber filled with columns of swirling fire the wavering swathes of kelp resembled dancing flames i thought about this warm color palette and how it contrasted against a shock of the electric blue of the water and i wanted to capture the feeling of an underwater blaze if you d like to add ablaze to your collection drop by the allegory gallery website posted by andrew thornton at 9 05 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday may 28 2020 crescent mermaid 2 here s another creation for mermay i had these vintage wooden crescent moon shapes floating around the studio for a few years i drilled out the holes and added rivets i think the glint of metallic edges looks nice and gives a finished look to the holes a couple of weeks ago i got up the gumption to paint miniature paintings on them i was really inspired by the lacquered russian beads i blocked out a few different pieces but i haven t really had much time to play with them the tiny size is a challenge for me i paint rather thickly which isn t necessarily ideal when working small this is one of the ones that i finished off i forgot just how tricky these were to paint i definitely need to get some finer brushes and maybe paint these in oils instead of acrylics i have a few more in the works and in between projects i noodle away on them posted by andrew thornton at 9 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday may 27 2020 little river dweller here s another one for mermay in celtic mythology there s a creature called an alp luachra it s also called a joint eater or just halver it s a fairy that lives near the water and silently and invisibly watches people eat their food if a person should fall asleep near this creature and its watery home it transforms into a newt and crawls down the victim s throat and eats half their food they say that whoever is inhabited by one of these creatures will never get fat new 2020 diet fad lol really i think this was an old timey cautionary tale about tapeworms and other parasites i decided to do my own version based off an axolotl i think they re so cute so this little river dweller is a mermaid mashup a little bit human a little bit amphibian and a little bit piggy if you re interested in acquiring little river dweller check out the allegory gallery online shop posted by andrew thornton at 9 57 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday may 26 2020 sunset memories it has been super busy around here so i haven t really had time to work on anything extra for awhile at least not in any great blocks of time i have managed to carve out little bits here and there and this is the result here s another new piece for mermay sometimes when i don t work on something in a solid block of time i can keep noodling away adding this or changing that that s what happened here i think it finally came together but it took some finagling i don t know about you but if there s a pretty sunset or sunrise i like to share the moment with a kitty companion i thought that this mermaid would appreciate some feline companionship when we were little our grandma used to fix catfish they had a deep fryer station set up in the yard and we d have a big fish fry at first we didn t want to have anything to do with it we knew what fish were supposed to look like and we knew how cats were supposed be and in our minds catfish looked like mermaids even after all this time this critter makes appearances in all of the siblings artwork we loved the idea of mermaids there was even a mermaid theme park we desperately wanted to go but never could get to weeki wachee springs to see the shows we ve talked about it from time to time but there were some articles about how it has seen better days and has sort of faded into the nostalgia of old florida roadside theme parks who knows maybe we ll all go one day but more likely than not it s a childhood desire fading like the light of a sunset posted by andrew thornton at 9 52 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday may 18 2020 call to wonder here s my latest mermay creation i grew up in florida and while the beach was a short distance away trips were infrequent we were mostly concerned with the everyday tasks of survival beaches were a symbol of leisure and relaxation needless to say we didn t go often when we did go it was a free thing to do that we could take out of town relatives sometimes we d get an invitation to go fishing but it was always connected to something practical later it was a place of rebellion and freedom it s where we d go to skip school or attend a party i can almost smell the bonfire and taste the cloying sweetness of strawberry wine coolers it was the place you d drive to in the middle of the night after sitting at the denny s struggling to come up with something to do i remember laughing and dancing in the surf under the moon i remember trying to find our shoes on more than one occasion after ripping them off as fast as we could as we ran down to the water s edge it was a celebration we built sand castles we knew wouldn t last and that was okay we wrote messages in the sand that would get swallowed up and that was okay we danced badly on the beach and that was okay because it was a celebration in this painting i wanted a call to celebrate and remind ourselves of the beauty and wonder of the world around us magic does exist we just have to look for it if you re interested in purchasing call to wonder you can visit the allegory gallery website posted by andrew thornton at 9 48 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday may 17 2020 other waters mermaids are one of those folkloric creatures that spring up pretty much in every coastal region there s a fascination with the mysteries of the deep and mermaids are a bridge between our world and something completely alien the water can be life sustaining but it can also be cruel and kill it s a coming to terms with something bigger than ourselves something primal and elemental this is one of the new mermay paintings that i made i like the idea that there are as many types of mermaids as there are fish there s something appealing about liminal creatures that embody more than one world i often times felt so conflicted growing up belong neither here nor there but when i started to love myself for who i was and stopped trying to be one way or another there was something beautiful something peaceful something that was empowering if you re interested in purchasing other waters you can do so by visiting the allegory gallery website posted by andrew thornton at 9 42 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday may 14 2020 swooping pearl necklace when i first started making jewelry i was obsessed with chokers and while i can still appreciate them my heart flutters for a long necklace i don t know i think there s just something about a swooping necklace that is romantic and elegant chokers are great and all but when i wear them i feel like they re a collar long necklaces breathe and move i also love the potential to layer longer necklaces and create a bold statement this is another mermaid inspired piece and features a lovely collection of pearls stacked cornflake pearls build on a rhythm of lustrous goodness it s long enough to slip over the head no clasp required posted by andrew thornton at 9 35 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday may 13 2020 celebration of pearls necklace when i was a little boy my mom pulled me aside and dug around a red wicker box from a jewelry box tucked inside she produced a large pearl it wasn t what you d think of immediately as a pearl it was wonky and misshapen but it was one of her most prized possessions as she showed it to me she told me stories of her life in the philippines and about her mother the stories she told were almost like fairytales oftentimes strange and fantastical pearls could be magic pearls could heal the sick and make miracles pearls were wishes and good intentions passed from one generation to the next it s probably no surprise that i love pearls i work with them often i think they epitomize the mermaid style sometimes after a project i ll have a few leftovers i save these sometimes they add just the right touch this rope necklace includes a rainbow of those leftovers i interspersed some really amazing faceted pearls that you don t really see very often nowadays and two tahitian pearls it really is a celebration of pearls it can be worn as a long necklace or wrapped around the wrist as a wrap bracelet posted by andrew thornton at 9 31 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday may 12 2020 ruler of the high seas necklace i ve been making jewelry for almost 20 years and over the years i ve amassed quite the collection of interesting components sometimes something speaks to you and you know exactly what you want to make right away but other times it can take awhile before the right idea comes around luckily beads don t go bad though pearls do benefit from being worn i had this idea of making these chicken feet esque talismans from the biwa pearls but never got around to it the golden coral sticks were actually used to decorate the store for awhile i made garlands and draped them over the mantle at the old store but then it clicked a lot of times when i paint mermaids i include some conveniently placed hair or well positioned jewelry to protect their modesty and not get things taken down on social media apparently nipples are just too much and people lose their minds over them so that s where a statement necklace comes in handy at least in paintings actual coverage on an actual person might be a little breezy lol biwa pearls and golden coral sticks fan out in a dramatic bib flanked by a freshwater pearls and stacks of cornflake pearls a powerful silhouette imparts all the dramatic regal vibes all hail the ruler of the high seas posted by andrew thornton at 9 28 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday may 11 2020 treasure necklace i ve been having such a wonderful time dreaming up creations that i think mermaids would wear i imagine floating markets where the merfolk can barter and trade for landlocked materials in my mind it s a bustling place with many languages and interesting characters this dainty necklace is an asymmetrical design that still looks good even if it shifts a little i think of it as a treasure necklace i have little containers that i add to of things that i think look nice together this necklace is made up of freshwater pearls in all different sizes shapes and colors it also includes dreamy moonstone and glowing opals it s a softer palette for me creams blush and dove gray this would look great on its own or layered with other necklaces one of the most common misconceptions about pearls is that they start out as a grain of sand but mollusks are filter feeders designed to expel any unwanted irritants like sand natural pearls usually are the result of parasites i guess it doesn t sound quite as romantic lol it s kind of like learning that some figs are pollinated by wasps that can t escape and are broken down by an enzyme sometimes pearls develop by damage to the mantle of the mollusk but most pearls nowadays come from small bits of mantle tissue implanted without or without a small bead or armature in the other part of the mollusk a sac forms around the foreign object and layers of nacre secretion form around it on paper it doesn t sound massively appealing words like sac and tissue and secretion don t do them any favors but when you hold a pearl in your hand and see it for yourself you can get lost in the rainbowy luster good pearls flash with color and brilliance to me this is a quiet alchemy it symbolizes the transformation of something miraculous and otherworldly i paired the pearls with a few opals one of the secrets of opals is that they need water to form without water the silica in sandstone couldn t be filtered out to form the opal deposits i think about these sort of things when i m making jewelry especially mermaid jewelry posted by andrew thornton at 9 24 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday may 10 2020 beachcomber necklace one of my favorite activities is combing the beach for treasure i could spend hours looking for worn pieces of sea glass interesting shells and intriguing bits of flotsam and jetsam i even found a human jaw bone and vertebrae once but that s another story when i think about mermaids i imagine them to be the magpies of the seas collecting all kinds of trinkets and baubles this necklace is an ode to beachcombers who find beauty in small things the focal of this piece is a tumbled clear quartz rock crystal point it is silky smooth and reminds me sea glass with its matte finish the quartz focal pendant is flanked by droplets of ...