I have always loved the flamboyant dress-like fins of the lionfish. About ten years ago I realized that no one had ever done a mermaid based on the lionfish, so I did this one, “Coral Mermaid,” in Sculpey with vinyl fins and a coral base. It made a lovely little piece, all fluttery with crinkly edges. (Thanks to Mike Edenfield for the photo!)

The color was critical. Years ago I found a picture of a fish called hemilepidotus. This fish possessed the most glorious, brilliantly patterned fins and scales. It was a complicated dance of pattern and texture on a minute scale.  This picture truly inspired me to make the first sculpture. My little sculpture did not do the photograph justice, though, and that bothered me.

Hemilepidotus

Skip forward 10 years. My business is successful, and my studio has made dozens of large scale sculptures. There are no pressing commissions and in the down time between paying work we try to stay busy. What are we going to build for fun?

Consideration number one: We must learn a new skill that can be applied to future projects. Hey, robotics! That could be fun! We could make something move.

Consideration number two: It must be spectacular. If you are going to take your precious free time for months and build something, there is no excuse for second rate work. You cannot claim client deadlines or lousy budget, since you have control over both of them.

Consideration number three: It has to be big. The opportunities to do the great defining pieces of your career come around once every couple of years. Are you going to waste those rare chances on a less-than-grand endeavor? That chance must be used to do something memorable!

So what to do? To solve this, I referred to my Secret Book of Wonderful Things — a catchall picture album where I keep clips from paper media: shots of furniture from Architectural Digest, crystal growth patterns from Scientific American, cute cards from Hallmark. If something for some reason looked pretty or caught my eye, I dutifully purchased it and clipped it for the album. The book is bursting at the seams with dresses, parrots, paintings, microscopic diatoms, colliding galaxies, and anything that has really pretty colors.

In this book I had saved the original picture of the fish hemilepidotus. Still gorgeous and texturally magnificent, it still inspired me. And I remembered I hadn’t got it right the first time. And then it struck me: a glittering image. Those textures are so similar to the Indian and Pakistani fabrics, the ones that are so heavily beaded and embroidered on delicate silks. My costuming friends has recently introduced to me the concept of layering fabrics to create visual depth. Now, if that moved….

It would be magnificent.