Prize Winning Fish; Blue Ribbon

 Since I won the blue ribbon in the judged show for the professional category of water media, I wanted to give you a glimpse of the prize winning fish.

Here's an early stage.  By the way, the piece is approximately 24x30".  I painted the fish in with Friskit, to save the whites.

Once the Friskit was laid down, I began to paint in washes of color.  I've got at least four layers of washes of different cool and iridescent colors here.  You can barely see the fish emerging.  Scary!

 You can see here where the Frisket has been peeled away.  This is a gummy medium that repels liquids, not unlike rubber cement.

If you look closely, you can see white dots all over the paper; I did that with Friskit as well as I wanted to have the 'hot spots' all over the painting.

Here's a closer look at the pike.  You can see right through him to the water behind; I wanted to do a couple things here - keep the viewers' eyes on the painting while they're trying to figure out how it is you can see through the fish, create areas of interest with the continuing pattern of complimentary colors, and help set the fish firmly in his space.

 Once I got all the Friskit off, I began to paint the fish itself.  This was a time-consuming process, as you can see by the little detail of the tail.  It was a delight, though, because I really love the way the colors compliment each other.  I tell my students that complimentary (opposite) colors do just that.  They sit on one side saying, 'hey, baby, you're looking good tonight!' and 'Wow - you're making ME look good, too!'

So, even though time consuming, I enjoyed it because I loved watching the colors react with and against each other.

You can see a pinky color on the right side here - that's a very pearlescent pink that set off some nice reflections.

 This is a horrible photograph of the colors, but it's close up enough to give you an idea of the illusory depth of the water.

 Okay, ridiculous, but I can't get this photograph to turn around the right way.  I give up!  Turn your head, please!

You may note the numbers over on the, well, bottom.  I used these as a rough guide initially, knowing that the Northern Pike's head is roughly 1/4 of its body length.  And when you take one of these babies off the hook, believe me, you know that!  That 1/4 is packed with very sharp teeth!

After some consideration, I decided I liked the numbers there, and painted 'em in.

Here's a close up shot of part of the fish.  As you can see, the watery background is right there!   A lot of rhythm in the fish as well, to keep viewers' eyes moving throughout.

Because this one ribboned, it'll be going to the next judged show coming up soon.  I'll keep you posted!