The Siren        2008          by Paul Noonan

Pencil and watercolour wash on card

This picture started life as a pencil study of a Bouguereau nude I worked on years ago. Although I created the landscape around her, the Siren in this picture definitely owes her existence to William Adolphe Bouguereau.

..... She's waited for years, lifetimes, so many lifetimes, at the water's edge. She knew they'd come, they always do.....The river always delivers. She begins her mournful song.....

Like a curious child with a toy the river played with them. How they hoped the 'little one' would become bored. How they prayed he would not throw a tantrum. Exhausted, shattered, they drift downstream to the quieter water. Slowly they begin to hear the sweetest sound. It's calling them, lulling them, summoning them....

As their world sets behind them little do they know they are in her world now.

Little do they know they are never going back...

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