The Influencer Mermaid

by | Dec 29, 2023 | Mermaids | 1 comment

The Influencer Mermaid

This is the first napkin I have drawn in at least 2 years, since the live streaming app Periscope closed down. I am not sure why I started it, probably just because the napkin was handy and I felt like doodling a bit. It turned into a new addition to a long running series I have of mermaids. There are links to the rest below the drawing.

An influencer mermaid with orange hair and a green fin talking about how she travels the ocean to give her viewers great bargains.

© 2023 Marty Coleman / napkindad.com

Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

The Fearful Mermaid – A Short Short Story

by | Oct 30, 2013 | Illustrated Short Stories, Mermaids | 0 comments

The Fearful Mermaid – A Short, Short Story

Chapter 1 – The Chase

Satine, the mermaid who liked her blue eyeshadow and mascara, didn’t know why they were chasing her, why they were so angry.  She swam as fast as she could to get away, all the time trying to remember if she had done or said something to upset them.  After a long time swimming she finally remembered what it was.  She had eaten their mother for lunch.

She swam until she reached a rock near the shore. She climbed up on it and waited until they got tired and hungry and went away.  Then she swam off to find her sisters and tell them about being chased.

The End

Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

The Virgin Mermaid

by | Jul 1, 2013 | Mermaids | 0 comments

The Virgin Mermaid

I did a Mermaid series back in 2012. When I went to St. John in the US Virgin Islands in June I was inspired to draw a mermaid again after going snorkeling in the clear blue waters and meeting one.

The Mermaid knew who I was, which I found funny. She said that I am very famous in the mermaid world because of the very accurate drawings I have been doing of mermaids over the past years.  She said my Arctic Mermaid drawing was particularly accurate.

Yes, she is a virgin, which she said is a source of endless jokes since she is named Virginia and is from the Virgin Islands.  She is tired of the jokes and wants to find a nice Merman to settle down with.  She also said red is not her natural hair color, that she swims within the red coral to get it to that hue.  

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Drawing by Marty Coleman

Model is Virginia, a real mermaid

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Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

A Night of Mermaids

by | Aug 17, 2012 | Mermaids | 0 comments

A Night of Mermaids

The Mistimed Lecture

I went to a lecture at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa last night. I thought it started at 6 but that was the cocktail hour. The lecture actually started at 7.  So, I stood at a tall table and drank myself silly with a Sprite and watched the world go by (after I checked out the special exhibition for the second time).  A woman came to the lecture hall door, peaked in and turned around toward me asking, ‘Does the lecture start at 6:30?’.  I told her when it started and we subsequently engaged in a cool conversation about her name (same as my eldest daughter, Rebekah), architecture (the topic of the lecture), Russia (where she lived for many years), legal careers (hers), art careers (mine), Photography (both of ours) and mermaids.

I asked if I could draw her on the cocktail napkin I had at the ready and she willingly obliged. Not only that but she looked off in the distance and never moved or blinked for the entire time. She knew how to strike a pose.  I decided she was probably a mermaid in another life and so drew her as one.

Nicci’s Mermaid Poem

After the lecture I dropped by a friend’s new home to pick up some coffee table art books (Monet, Europe and Post-Impressionism) she was giving away and to see her new digs.  

It’s a totally awesome sleek modern home that fits her perfectly. I follow her blog, her Facebook page and read her writings in the local media on occasion. She is not only stylish and hip, but is a very serious seeker of knowledge and truth. She works hard to communicate that intellectual and spiritual journey she is on and I appreciate that.  We talked about a number of things but eventually got to the most important topic of the day, Mermaids. She just happened to have written a poem about her life as a mermaid and graciously sent it to me later that night. Here it is.

My Life as a Mermaid
i fell into the ocean
but found solace in the sea
so i swam amidst the coral
taking shelter in the reef.
and then i rode an ancient turtle
and challenged a great white
and short circuited an electric eel
one harsh and choppy night.
and then i sang to east bound sailors
from atop a sun drenched cliff
and with a watchful eye 
i surfed the tide
and then stormed a pirate ship.
i lassoed a violent current
and then skipped along the shelf
and fought high and low
so that i might know
the Golden Age of Sail…
Nicci Atchley
nicci

Nicci

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it, my visual ode to mermaids near and far through the past week ending with me drawing and hearing from real people who just might be mermaids.

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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is not a Merman.

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Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

The Modest Mermaid

by | Aug 16, 2012 | Mermaids | 5 comments

It’s a well known fact that mermaids are NOT modest. However, there is one area of the seven seas where they are modest and I just happen to find a mermaid in that area this morning. Do you know where the modest mermaids live?

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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has never been modest except for the time in high school when I got out of the shower at my house to find my friends had come over and Rusty tried to tear my towel off right in front of Mary, my new girlfriend.

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Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

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The Arctic Mermaid

by | Aug 15, 2012 | Mermaids | 0 comments

The Arctic Mermaid

Today is day 3 of Mermaid week, in which I illustrate Mermaids from all over the watery world, including rivers, lakes and today…The Arctic!

Her Secrets of the Deep

The arctic mermaid is very wary of strangers poking their head in her space.  They want to know her secrets and she doesn’t want to let them be known (especially the fact that the ‘rocks’ on her part of the ocean floor are actually chocolate).

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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who wonder if mermaids go on land to clean themselves.

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Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

 

The Lake Mermaid

by | Aug 14, 2012 | Mermaids | 2 comments

The Lake Mermaid

I liked drawing the River Mermaid so much yesterday I thought I would make a series about mermaids all over the world.  

Splash

One of my all time favorite movies is ‘Splash’ with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. I swam a lot in the ocean as a kid, body surfing mostly, and would have liked nothing more than to have come upon Madison, (the character Hannah plays) while frolicking in the sea.  I loved her naivete and innocence, her unadulterated joy and love.  I think more people should be like mermaids (and mermen)

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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who thinks mermaids’ hands are webbed.

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Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

 

The River Mermaid

by | Aug 13, 2012 | Mermaids | 1 comment

I drew a mermaid today.  Wondering why? Read below.  This drawing doesn’t exactly follow the conversation, but it started me thinking in the mermaid direction. Now I might do a whole series!  

In the meanwhile, my wife says Mermaids don’t have vaginas.  But I think mermaids have the right to reproduce just like any other fish/person so I gave her one.  What do you think, Do mermaids have vaginas?

My Facebook status this morning:

“I had a great idea for a quote for today’s napkin. I went to take a shower, now can’t remember what it was. grrr…”
The comments went as follows: 

Jessica: i write blog posts like that entirely in my head and then they disappear.

Hanna: Glad I’m not the only one with short term memory probs! 🙂

Margaret: Maybe ‘dirty hair equals great ideas’ or ‘write it down before you wash it away’, 😉 you could have one of your illustrations with great thoughts coming out out of its grimy head. By the way, I haven’t showered yet.

Me: Margaret, at least you wrote it down before you showered! LOL

Thomas: Go back to your shower, make it cold, and your thought will come back to you from Neverland;)Ryan: You are supposed to have good ideas in the shower, not lose them.

Me: yea, I reversed that truism, didn’t I!


Kathi: I think you now have a new idea for today’s napkin!!! “When brilliant ideas get washed down the drain!” 🙂Deborah: ACTUALLY …. I think THAT would make a GREAT QUOTE for the napkin … ” I had a great idea …went to the shower …” …. not only is it a GREAT visual (PG-13 Lots of soap bubbles LOL ) but I can see several trajectories it could take …. our overly busy lives/brains…aging… OR?Me: I might have to do that Deb and Kathi! I might use a photo I took of you Deb as my starting point, you ok with that? LOL (not going to use me in the shower, bad visual!)

Deborah: LOL !!! ~~~ Marty you in the shower with YOUR HAT ON is AWESOMENESS !!! … LOTTTTTTTS of BUBBLES !!!! …. If you make me into a mermaid …..then ……….perhaps !! Laughing so hard !
Me: I wonder if I could do a series on forgetful mermaids…
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is not now, nor has ever been, a Merman (though he can hold his breath for an admirable length of time).
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