Mermaid Piece- finished

Got a bit of a scare from my mother recently- said something about how she had seen my niece on her birthday.  I was surprised to learn she was already a year old, but was told it was her "11 month" birthday.  Still, I've made two artworks for her and it seems like she (her parents anyway) should get at least one of them real soon.  The saint was done a long time ago, has been seen (and praised) in two critiques, been submitted to two juried shows (rejected from both), and it seems like a good time to make them a copy, but I can't find the block at the moment. Doesn't seem to be in the Studio, so it's probably buried under something in my apartment.  Probably turn up as I am gathering stuff for the print workshop next month.  The other thing is the mermaid sculpture, which has been used to make prints, and the coloring was done back in January.  The thickly applied ink took longer to dry than I expected, but a few weeks ago I saw that it was ready to go.  Just needed a hanging wire.

My brother called me this morning to invite me over for homemade meatless (Good Friday, you know) pizza tonight, so I figured it was about time to turn the mermaid over to the intended recipient. The logical place to attach a long wire is from end to end, say tail to head, but then the wire would have to cross a big empty space, and I didn't know if they would like that.  In the end I attached two wires- one from tail to shoulder (probably not balanced) and a short one behind the hair.  My niece was already up to bed when I brought it out, and since she's not yet talking, I have no idea what she'd think of it anyway.  The two older children were both a bit envious of the piece, so I expect I may get a request to make some new sculptures in the near future.  But at least I'm done with this one.