My First Fish Painting

Flamboyant, mixed media on canvas panel, 16″ x 20″

I got bored of painting landscapes, flowers, and buildings, which have been my favorite things to paint.  So I decided to paint a fish.  When I came across a photo of the mandarin fish for the first time, I could not believe my eyes.  I have never seen a more colorful, exotic looking fish.  I love fish.  I used to have an aquarium, but gave it up so I could have the 3 cats I have now.  The fish tank was a lot of work.

I have a great love for color, and this subject matter sure fits the bill.  My color palette was Permalba white, lemon yellow, cadmium yellow dark, cadmium scarlet, permanent rose, cerulean blue phthalo, ultramarine blue, and burnt umber.  For the body of the fish, I used the cerulean with a bit of yellow mixed in, and cadmium yellow dark with a touch of cad scarlet added.  I love the various warm and cool blues.  I used glazing in pure ultramarine blue and Liquin for the transluscent fin on the side.

This is oil, on an acrylic background.  It was a labor intensive thing to paint, but I’m very happy with it, and enjoyed painting it.  I am in amazement at the creativity of God, to make such a creature.

Shades of Pink Improved

It’s a good thing I like to leave a painting on my easel, which is just about 10 feet from my bed.  I get to glance at it in all types of light, and see what I need to do to it.  I noticed that at night, I could not see the stamens, because they were the same value (level of darkness) as the bottom on the tulip cup.  So today, I made a lighter green with my optical white, naples yellow, and sap green.  I applied some of this to the top 2/3 of each stamen with a stippling brush, making sure not to cover up some of the underlying optical darkness.  I also added some optical white to the edges of some of the petals to brighten it up a bit.  I’m very pleased with the results.  The lighter stamens are actually making the insides of the flower appear more luminous and colorful.

Here is a link to the listing in my etsy store.

Shades of Pink, oil on canvas panel, 16″ x 20″