This painting illuminates the meeting point between the living sea that moves like breath – inhaling and exhaling itself into the world – with the illusory permanence of our structured lives. As a lifelong surfer, I am intimately aware of the sea’s urging to ever flow and evolve. And no matter how we might try to delineate our man made world from nature’s perfect design, nature will find a way to prevail. Yet when we can merge our lives and homes in respect with the natural world, then will we have reached true harmony with the earth. The title is also a double entendre: as it references one of my favorite artists, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, whose painting “A Mermaid” is partially reproduced in this scene.