Mallotus villosus

 Mallotus villosus

12 x 36 - oils

Mallotus villosus.  I've used the latin genus as the name for this painting.  He (as he's fairly thin and small, I'm presuming its a male) is a showy fellow and deserved a more regal name I thought, especially as he sacrificed his life in the name of art. 

I finally managed to get some odorless thinners for the oils I'm using and do some more work on the giant capelin.  Usually turps don't bother me, but they have lately and with the weather cold and damp, having good ventilation wasn't an option while painting.

It seems the older I get, the more things turn against me in terms of scents and foods.  But hopefully, this problem is taken care of for now.  I don't mind the smell of oil paints themselves, in fact I notice very little smell from them.

So on to the fish painting.  I've layered more colours to try to achieve that luminescence that fish have in places as light catches scale or wetness. The subtlety of colour in something as simple as a capelin is quite amazing, as is the detail.  I like the progress so far and still have some work to do on the mouth and the fin, then I'm hoping I can call it done and let it dry.