Kayla comes from the Celtic waters surrounding Ireland, Wales and Scotland where it can get quite chilly even by Northern Mermaid standards. Accordingly, she has woven out of seaweed strands and threads of fine kelp her red silken dress and sewed it with needles carved from delicate whale bones by her dear brother Kaylon. The stories Kayla could tell you (and did share with me as I painted her), of times dragons strode the earth, breathing fire from caves, of goldenhaired King Arthur himself, who once (before he met Guinevere) flirted with Kayla, reaching with outstretched hand from his carved excursion boat. Many an Earth-maid, standing on wintry cliffs waiting for her seafaring man to return... or not, has been comforted by Kayla's melodies, wafted high above the waves on stormy nights. But Kayla is a bit shy (or is she really "coy"?) and prefers the company of her Mathoosi friends over the enticements of land.

Every once in a while she does like to visit way up North to see her old dragon chum, one of a lost breed, Nessie of Loch Ness. Once a photographer almost caught a shot of her astride Nessie's hard-ridged back but Skeptics called it a "hoax." Kayla was glad not to be identified, but declared, "Hoax! I am NOT a horse!" (She is still coping with the complexities of human language since dolphins rarely visit her cold waters for translation purposes, except when highly paid with lox and cream cheese.)

Because of Kayla's personal stories of knights, ladies, dragons and kings, large golden fish (distant relatives of Koi from Japan) have become attracted to her and often can be seen in graceful shapes and swirls surrounding her as if she were a Knight's Emblem or part of a shield from fairy tale times. Kayla likes to pretend she doesn't notice all the attention she gets, but she and the gold fish around her have become inseparable friends.

One day her goldfish friends led her to an abandoned sea-shell, a huge and very rare one indeed whose clam-like inhabitant had long ago left for warmer parts. Being very aware of the needs of nature, Kayla decided to recycle this enormous shell. "It will make a perfect harp," she said, swimming toward her sewing tools of whalebone needles and seafern strands. Eventually, she found octopus whiskers to be the best and strongest musical cords for her harp. Today she plays "An Iridescent Splash in Liquid Time", an ancient Celtic song of praise for the shimmering colors and cooling moods of the Dance of Time.

You can hear it too, but only if you put your Imagination close up to the painting. That's right! I knew you could do it!