The Mermaid of Zennor

My original inspiration for using mermaids came from my holiday in Cornwall. Being very costal they have a lot of old myths and tales about Mermaids.

When visiting a gallery in St Ives, a couple of prints by one particular artist grabbed my attention and set my imagination running. 

I like how the artist has made the mermaid look different from the traditional beautiful depiction of them. More fish like and incorporated essence from the ocean, seaweed etc. It plays on the traditional story of mermaids luring in sailors and pirates but the posing of the characters gives a pleasant twist and suggests a positive relationship instead of the bad luck usually associated with mermaids. I think I want to explore this relationship between further in my work. I like the middle one as it gives a greater sense of setting/atmosphere. It places the mermaid in the real world so the audience can relate to it and have that uncanny feeling. 

This then lead to me finding Cornwall's most popular mermaid story, The Mermaid of Zennor: 

http://hypnogoria.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/folklore-on-friday-mermaid-of-zennor.html 

http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cornwall/churches/zennor.htm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mermaid-Zennor-Charles-Causley/dp/1408319543

The Mermaid of Zennor, by John Reinhard Weguelin (1900)

I then started looking more locally in Hampshire and found a church in Nately Scures with links to a mermaid :

http://www.hampshire-history.com/mermaid-nately-scures/

I want to narrow my search down further, to Portsmouth.