Surfacing, study
18" X 24" oil on canvas
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Original art is sold

The story point ...
Today is Aerica’s 13th birthday. Her older sister Sarah and a few of her friends have promised to take Aerica for her first clandestine visit to dry land, where she’s been aching to go for so long. The greatest lure to this adventure is breaking the rules. At this age, there’s no greater incentive than the word “no.”

Village Beach is a favourite spot for Sirens to lurk. The soft white sand and warmth of the sun have drawn them here before. And the beach is secluded – another lure. They’re eager to go unseen, by both the Offspring in the sea and the Orphans on land. The girls are neither; they are Repentants, so setting foot on dry land is part of an old taboo, an ancient penance for their kind. But that was all decided so long ago. They had no part in it, and the fear of transgression has lost its sting over the generations. Sarah, at 18, has more respect for the dangers, and she is keenly aware of Aerica’s precocious nature. She tells her to stay back and stay put.

Cautiously, Sarah slips through the surface, into the light. She takes a deep breath of the strange Thin-air, thick with the intoxicating fragrance of a warm summer beach.   Mark Heine

Writing has long been a integral part of Mark Heine's creative process. In the pursuit of his original artistic voice, Mark's writing has evolved to become the driving force behind his work and has led him to envision a world of his own creation. Sirens, the culmination of 44 years exploration, is inspired by the sea-nymphs, made famous in Homer's Odyssey. These underwater visions of mythological muse are rooted in the moments of an ongoing and developing fictional narrative. This complex narrative, involving human evolution and our natural environment, is the unifying conceptual thread that ties these surreal visions.