Typhoon offering

Hearing about the devastation in the Phillipines was terrible, especially since my moms family is there, trying to pick up the pieces. My mom ( and the rest of my family!) has coming up with ways to help. The picture above is a progress shot of a painting I'm going to make prints of to benefit my faraway family. It's pretty loose now, but it will be built up with layers of egg tempera and watercolor. I based the mermaids face on my mom, when she was a teen.

This was the first sketch, really quick, done in pen and watercolor washes. 

Here's one of my reference pictures - I think my mom wouldn't approve of this tousled look, but she never looks at my blog, so I'm safe! Anyway, I will be posting more pictures of the painting until it's finished. Hopefully it will be done by Monday!