but a fish
Apologies for the cryptic title, but I painted a picture for my friend to go with the one of a leaping trout I painted a few months ago, and I realised on my To-Do List, I’d written “Alex -Salmon” and thought hmm I recognise that name. It won’t help my SEO but might confuse the AI gremlins, and besides, as many of you dear readers will have realised by now, I can’t resist a pun: especially a terrible one.
Anyway, onto the artwork.
This friend of mine is a huge supporter of my artistic endeavours, and he has recently constructed a garage extension at his house with a room above, which I suggested he called The Toucan, reminiscent of a joke from my childhood:
Why does a toucan look depressed? Because it always has a huge bill in front of it.
Suffice to say, my friend has not been brave enough to tell his builder why it’s called The Toucan but it is a beautiful space, and despite the modern interior design, there are lots of nods to his fondness for stalking and fly fishing memorabilia.
The main colour scheme is indigo and burnt orange, and it took a couple of attempts to find a suitable palette which would complement the wallpaper, where the painting will eventually sit. Alex also wanted a salmon leaping from a pool rather than up a waterfall, so I had to screenshot some video footage of this for a reference.
I used 320gsm A4 Khadi paper, and make a washy background of Deep Sea Black granulating watercolour. I painted the fish in gouache using a dry brush technique which is perfect for scales and highlights, and added some blobs of white for droplets. I’m really pleased how it turned out.
I’m always happy to take on commissions, and I’m really enjoying painting fish at the moment. Feel free to contact me if you’d like some unique wildlife artwork for your home; you can find my details on the About Me page.
