Graphite & Aquarelle
94,6 x 52,3 cm
“Far out in the ocean the water is as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass. But it is very deep too. It goes down deeper than any anchor rope will go, and many, many steeples would have to be stacked one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea. It is down there that the sea folk live. Now don’t suppose that there are only bare white sands at the bottom of the sea. No indeed! The most marvelous trees and flowers grow down there, with such pliant stalks and leaves that the least stir in the water makes them move about as though they were alive. All sorts of fish, large and small, dart among the branches, just as birds flit through the trees up here.”
“All day long the princesses played in the palace, where living flowers grew out of the walls. The big, amber windows where opened so fish could swim in and out. They swam right up to the small princesses, ate out of their hands and allowed themselves to be petted.”
“Nothing gave the youngest princess such pleasure as to hear about the world of human beings up above them. (…) What seemed nicest of all to her was that up on land the flowers were fragrant, for those at the bottom of the sea had no scent. And she thought it was nice that the woods were green, and that the fish you saw among their branches could sing so loud and sweet that it was delightful to hear them. Her grandmother had to call the little birds “fish,” or the princess would not have known what she was talking about, for she had never seen a bird.”
The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen
Making of a 3D diorama version for the museum Breizh Odyssée in Brittany, France :
