Christmas bass......

Now that the holidays are over, I can update my blog with this painting. The painting was a gift for my father-in-law....fisherman extrordinaire! On our last visit to central Florida , we went fishing in one of the beautiful fresh water lakes there. We had all caught fish that day, but this fish was "the big one!" He caught it on one of his last casts of the day, and it was a beauty. We saved it, and released it into the lake at their apartment complex.

To begin the painting, I taped a piece of Winsor Newton 140lb cold press paper onto plexiglass. Next I began the drawing. I had the photo enlarged, so I could more easily see every detail. After the drawing was completed, I laid down a light yellow wash over the center of the fish....making sure to leave the lightest areas of the fish white. Next I laid a down a very pale wash of sap green....very delicate, just enough to give a hint of sea color to the body of the fish. After that dried, I worked on the fins...using some Payne's Grey, Cobalt and Turquoise Blue, and some Rose Madder Genuine for the bottom fins. Next,it was time to lay the blues down for the body of the fish. When looking at the fish close-up, the scales show quite a rainbow of color. No fish is monochromatic, so I used various blues, greens and greys all over the body. For the gills, I used Alizarin Crimson, Rose Madder Genuine, and some Windsor Blue. The eye of the fish is layers of grey, with the white reserved with frisket.

This painting was soooooo much fun to do! After doing a motorcycle painting for months, it was fun to kind of cut loose, and work on a fish! And for a fisherman, it makes a perfect gift.