Christopher Columbus came across some manatees basking and, mistaking them for legendary mermaids, described them as "not half as beautiful as they are painted".
This sighting was reported to be January 1493, when the world relied solely on painters to capture images. The most common subject of painting was people, to save both the grandeaur and glamour of the sitter for posterity. Artistic licence was a skill many working portrait painters would have had to rely heavily on, to paint what the sitter wanted, rather than what was actually in front of them.
The manatee was assumed to be the original mermaid. Gliding through the rippling waves, or basking on a rock, may have looked rather like, shall we say, a voluptuous female form from a distance. Stick thin females have not always been seen as desirable, so the plumper form of a manatee, after years at sea, could well have been a very desirable sight.
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| Manatee painted and in original white. |
This little Cluny/Muaiga manatee was quite a challenge to interpret in bobbin lace. Rather than draw rolls of bouyant fat, I chose to draw the ripples that the sun makes through the waves, creating beautiful blue green patterns below the surface.
Made in white cotton Egyptian thread at 28wpc, 46 bobbins, 13.5cm tall.
Techniques include Pin under 4 edging, adding beads for eyes where plaits join, leaf tallies, cloth stitch trails, half stitch trails with pairs entering, leaving and crossing, cloth stitch with twisted ribs, half stitch droplets with a cloth stitch edge, adding and throwing out, and a lot of planning ahead for the next direction and section to be worked.
I started at the head and worked down both sides. The jowls were a challenge. I would change the inside one to a pin under 4 edge.
New pairs were added where ever needed in the ground, mostly made of the bobbins I had thrown out and rewound. Many of the 46 pairs were reused.
I imagined this piece in colour when I started, but I always make the first draft in white. I chose to paint this piece when it was finished. The Derwent 'Inktense' blocks were used, very diluted at first and when dried, a few highlight colours added. It is hard to see the final colours until dry as the are so vibrant on first application, and also easy to overdo the colour if it is too concentrated.
