Mary-Anne Leslie

Draculya

2010-11-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

Lancelot mused

2010-08-23T17:06:00.001-07:00

But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

Den Lille Havfrue

2010-06-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Aycayia

2009-10-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Among the Neo-Taíno nations of the Caribbean the mermaid is called Aycayia.[15][16] Her attributes relate to the goddess Jagua, and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree Hibiscus tiliaceus

Nereida

2009-09-01T18:47:00.001-07:00

The latest of my mermaid series - not a big story here, but the meaning of her name is "sea nymph", and in Greek mythology Nereids are deities of the sea.

Das Rheingold

2009-07-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ink & Watercolor

Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold") is the first of the four operas that comprise Der ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Wagner. The Rhinemaidens are the three water nymphs (Rheintöchter or Rhine daughters) who appear in Wagner's opera. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although they are generally considered as a single entity and act together accordingly. The key concepts associated with them in the Ring operas—their flawed guardianship of the Rhine gold, and the condition (renunciation of love) through which the gold could be stolen from them and transformed into a means of world power—are wholly Wagner's own invention, and are the elements that initiate and propel the entire drama.

Catalina

2009-02-14T11:42:00.001-08:00

Persian Birds

2009-01-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

In my researching of peacocks for this commissioned portrait of a dear friend of mine, I discovered that peacocks were once referred to as the bird of Persia, which is apt because she is too ^_^

Pas De Deux

2008-12-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well I would have liked to get this done earlier, but Christmas snuck up on me faster than usual. Anyways, it's inspired by my favourite piece from The Nutcracker Ballet. You can tell listening to it that Tchaikovsky was a hopeless romantic.

Merry Christmas!! oxox

Morticia Addams

2008-11-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Moonlit Encounter

2008-10-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

Eliza

2008-09-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

Mermaid Consoles the Unicorn

2008-09-13T10:11:00.001-07:00

"A mermaid AND a unicorn? Are you MAD?" Perhaps. I've seen this theme explored by other artists but I found their compositioning awkward, understandable when trying to pair a tall land creature with a legless, sea-dwelling one. I wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I find it difficult to clothe mermaids, seems too Disney-ey, not "realistic" (because as we all know mermaids ARE real. *cough*)

Lorelei

2008-08-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

According to German legend, there was once a beautiful young maiden, named Lorelei, who threw herself headlong into the river in despair over a faithless lover. Upon her death she was transformed into a siren and could from that time on be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River, near St. Goar. Her hypnotic music lured sailors to their death. The legend is based on an echoing rock with that name near Sankt Goarshausen, Germany. Ink & watercolor.

The Red Shoes

2008-07-15T22:24:00.001-07:00

Ink & Watercolour. It's inspired by the movie, which was inspired by the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Highwayman

2008-07-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes - One of my favourite poems since elementary school (and also of Loreena McKennitt songs.) Ink and watercolour.

"He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West."

Wolf Moon

2008-07-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ink and watercolor

The Five Sisters of York

2008-07-15T22:19:00.001-07:00

Ink drawing colored digitally

Based on a short story by Charles Dickens, in Nicholas Nickleby.

Snowflake Waltz

2008-07-15T22:17:00.001-07:00

Ink drawing colored digitally

Inspired by Tchaikovsky's Snowflake Waltz from The Nutcracker

Emily of New Moon

2008-07-15T22:03:00.001-07:00

Ink drawing colored digitally

Based on one of my favourite literary characters by Lucy Maude Montgomery.

The Lady of the Lake

2008-07-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ink drawing, colored digitally

With head upraised, and look intent,
And eye and ear attentive bent
And locks flung back, and lips apart
like a monument of Grecian art.
In listening mood, she seemed to stand
The guardian Naiad of the strand.

And ne'er did a Grecian trace,
A Nymph, A Naiad or a grace,
of finer form, or lovlier face!

~Sir Walter Scott

Rosa

2008-07-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ink and watercolor
This is a Dickens character, from David Copperfield. A strange, vitriolic woman, Miss Rosa Dartle suffers unrequited love for David's friend James Steerforth. She is described as being extremely skinny and displays a visible scar on her lip caused by Steerforth.

"I don’t know what it was, in her touch or voice, that made that song the most unearthly I have ever heard in my life, or can imagine. There was something fearful in the reality of it. It was as if it had never been written, or set to music, but sprung out of the passion within her; which found imperfect utterance in the low sounds of her voice, and crouched again when all was still. I was dumb when she leaned beside the harp again, playing it, but not sounding it, with her right hand."

Sirens

2008-07-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

This was painted digitally.