The month of May is fun on social media with people posting pictures of their mermaid-related artwork under the hashtag #mermaid all through the month.

This year (2025) I wanted to participate so I started looking back for some piece with a mermaid in it and it turns out I have made quite a few.

I posted them on Bluesky but realized that all that effort, of selecting, commenting on them, and so on, would be lost once the month passed. So, here they are, for posterity. If the writing sounds repetitive or constrained, I blame it on the character limit of Bluesky,

I also chose to put in the uncensored versions. Bluesky will censor artwork that contains artistic nudity like, for example, nipples on a scary swamp mermaid.

Here goes:

I’m fond of #mermaids. Spooky ones are the best. This one is inspired by the protagonist in the book series Blackwater by Michael McDowell (who wrote Beetle Juice!)

I really really like spooky mermaids! I’m cropping this one because it’s got artistic nipple which Bluesky doesn’t like.

Here’s a merman sketch and it’s oil painting … which I never finished. Maybe I’ll finish it someday 🤔

What if you were unlucky enough to catch a mermaid? An unfinished digital sketch with some color treatment for a mermaid caught in a fishing net.

I didn’t get a chance to post the process video on bluesky so here it is:

My mermaids aren’t always spooky. Here’s a sketch of a mermaid and her underwater friends and of a merdog 🤷🏽 (I later realized that merdogs are really just sea lions)

But spooky #mermaid s is what I keep coming back to. Strategically placed pencil to placate the Bluesky robotic sensors of artistic nipple. (The below is the uncensored version)

I think one aspect of the spooky #mermaid that strikes me is that they can look and behave like zombies; you can’t read the expression in fish eyes. Are they hungry? Evil? Indifferent? Also mermaids in swamps? Creepy!

My mermaids are usually lacking irises. They make me think of those deep sea fish with white eyes and the little light lure dangling from their forehead. Maybe that’s what a mermaid is?

Pirates can be so mean :p Early attempt at ink-like illustration with the digital drawing program Krita (the below is the uncensored version)

I didn’t realize I had so many mermaid themed pieces. My low level obsession with them probably stems from my early exposure to Daryl Hannah (😍) in Splash.

Fin.

I was pretty young when I got to see Daryl Hannah swim effortlessly through the water, her billowing hair trailing behind or forming swirling clouds around her head. And, of course, that she’d like a doofus like Tom Hanks.

I encourage you to check out Bluesky’s #mermay tag. There are so many wonderful artists. Here, for example, is a good jumping off point. I do hope artists start using blogs more and collecting their thoughts and threads in posts rather than letting tossing them into the social wind.