Mermaids Valentines

When Nantucket men and boys went "off on the whale" they were often gone for years. Although they visited many lands, sailed many oceans, and had the excitement of wild "Nantucket sleigh rides" when the whale pulled the long whale boats for miles and miles over the roiling sea, life aboard was more often boring than it was exciting.Sailors learned from talented women in Barbados how to combine paint-ings, family letters, and other mementoes with exotic seashells to make Sail-ors...
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When Nantucket men and boys went "off on the whale" they were often gone for years. Although they visited many lands, sailed many oceans, and had the excitement of wild "Nantucket sleigh rides" when the whale pulled the long whale boats for miles and miles over the roiling sea, life aboard was more often boring than it was exciting.Sailors learned from talented women in Barbados how to combine paint-ings, family letters, and other mementoes with exotic seashells to make Sail-ors Valentines. During the long boring hours in between shouts of Whale Ho! the sailors turned their hands and minds to creating these lovely tokens of their travels for loved ones at home.Cynthia's Mermaids Valentines take this art in a new, but related direc-tion. Stories of mermaids have long been carried home by sailors. Lovely, en-ticing women who sang and called to sailors from their perches on rocks, rid-ing atop whales, and swimming beside the ships, tempted men who were very far from home.Cynthia's long career as a Narrative Maritime Americana Primitive artist has brought her work to the attention of private collectors and museums world wide. She credits her mermaid inspiration to her early mentors Ralph and Martha Cahoon whom she met in her teens and who were the "quintessential painters of mermaids."This new book in a series of books featuring original paintings and historical text for the whole family, mermaids take center stage.