Aral Sea Mermaid Doodles

I was recently reading about the Aral Sea, which is a lake lying in Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It was once the fourth largest lake in the world, but due to a Soviet-era, large-scale irrigation project which diverted the two rivers that fed it to area farms, the lake has been slowly drying up, until today, 50 years later, it has largely disappeared, being about 10% of it's original size. 
This is an ecological disaster on an epic scale, and has left many fishing communities that used to be on the shore of the lake, literally high and dry. It is not unusual to see the hulks of rusting fishing boats, laying in what looks like desert, but was in fact, the floor of the lake.
Keeping with my recent mermaid themes, i did a couple of small, quick sketches of dying mermaids, sitting mournfully in the shade of these hulks. Perhaps I will turn them into larger, more detailed paintings at some future date.

Panhandling Mermaids

My wife and I were walking along the Gloucester waterfront a week ago and at the end that is nearest to Stage Fort Park, there are a series of rocks. As we were walking by I imagined what it would be like if a pod of mer-people, took up residence there, maybe voluntarily, but possibly forced there because of pollution, or over-fishing.

I imagined that at first there would be a lot of initial interest in them and their story, local and national press coverage, television crews and press helicopters . Scientists and others who wanted to photograph and study them. An influx of vendors exploiting the situation by selling everything from snacks to mer-themed t-shirts and hats.

Inevitably, people would gradually lose interest, and the mermaids who were once magical and mythical, would become commonplace. Add in a bit more time, and they might actually start to become a problem. Since they no longer have their deep-water homes, they no longer have the means to support themselves, and rely on handouts to live. They may descend into problematic public behaviors like smoking, drugs, drinking. With that in mind, I doodled the scene below.
Mermaids as homeless, panhandling to survive, and with the same sort of reaction from those passing by.

Neptune & Salacia - Old Salt and Mermaid

A quick sketch comparing the mythological figures of the Roman god Neptune and his wife the goddess Salacia, with a more contemporary version of an old salt sea captain, and a mermaid.