The birth of a fish

I have completed this fish painting and now feel that I can progress onto other waiting projects. The fish started out as an experiment and evolved into something more, as many drawings do.

I wanted to use a full sheet of watercolour paper to stain then add fish prints to. I then wondered if I could just draw the fish on freehand before staining, cover them with masking fluid and then add details to the fish after staining the full sheet. This is where the fish was born. I pulled a sheet of 3 ply bristol drawing paper from a package of samples to sketch out a fish with. Then colour was added and the paper held up well with just a little bend to it which will flatten under weight or a frame.

The addition of ink came after studying the skin of the fish and wanting to replicate the pigmentation of it. A small amount of irridescent acrylic ink was added to the image to give a hint of sheen that is present in the colour of the fish.

And now, I have a completed fish and still now full sheet waiting to go. Its time to make progress.