What Little Girl Doesn't Dream of Becoming a Mermaid?

Well, I turned that dream into a reality for my 5 year old. (And let's be honest...a little for myself too).

I was inspired to create this image one night while I was getting my kids ready for their baths. Often, bath time can be a bit of a challenge when wrangling a 5 year old and a 2 year old, so I thought to myself, "Hey! Let's dump an entire bottle of bubble bath into the water and see what happens!"...

...as you can see, it created lots of amazing bubbles, and it was magical. I was tempted to dive in myself, but having my camera strapped around my neck was holding me back (thankfully).

Well, my tub is obviously less than pleasing to look at, considering it probably hasn't been updated since the early 80's (we rent), so I began to work on making it pretty.

I added some tile in the background and a big picture window overlooking the sunset. I also used a little Photoshop magic to give my daughter some wavy mermaid hair. Finally, I added the mermaid tail, and some extra large bubbles, and my image was complete.

In reality, creating this piece was not as simple as my explanation. There were many outtakes of my daughter blowing bubbles until we got the perfect one, and about 24 total hours of editing, but I am happy with how it turned out; enough so that I have it printed on a large canvas in my studio.

I'm considering creating some short videos on my editing process, but haven't gotten that far just yet. Hopefully I will get around to it sometime in the near future. Thanks for reading!

Credit for the direct stock links can be found below:

Tile: https://pixabay.com/en/banner-abstract-design-background-1975062/
Mermaid Tail: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Mermaid-Tail-05-317149745
Curtains: https://pixabay.com/en/curtain-fabric-transparent-1512410/
Starfish: https://pixabay.com/en/starfish-gypsum-blank-unpainted-1703387/
Sky Overlay: Jackie Jean Photography