Flamboyant Fish

Now resuming some on-line classes!  Today, sharing an abstract but whimsical painting I created whilst following Tracy Verdugo’s “Animal Antics”.  This is the second half of a warm-up phase in which we practice drawing animals and developing our creative minds.  And now, something really fishy is going on here!

The Start

Also an idea of Tracy’s, I decided to recycle a page from my sketchbook on which I had been, over time, wiping excess ink or paint or using as a mixing palette when working on another painting.  Great use of leftover art supplies, and nothing goes to waste!  Then as you can see, I sketched my fish on top.  Initially I was not sure what animal would suit my liking for this session.  Then I saw what appeared to by an incidental green eye amongst the chaos of colors.  Should I go for a bird?  I finally settled for a big fish. 

Negative Space

And here comes the exciting part:  Painting!  But I am not going to paint the fish.  Rather, I’ll be painting around it hence creating negative space painting.  With negative space, you don’t focus on the details of the subject but rather let the shape of it emerge from the background surrounding it.  Here, I painted the background with Manganese Blue Hue by Golden fluid acrylic.  You see how the shape of the fish emerges?  So far so cool!

Adding Details

And now, how about pimping up this painting a bit more?  I firstly introduced some seaweed in the background by gluing on collages of paper napkins with plant patterns.  Once that was dried, I went about doodling more bubbles with Sennelier’s 3D liner in fluorescent yellow before incorporating some more on the fish with glitter, gel pen and gold relief paint.  The eye was also reinforced with the gel pen along with adding some kawaii with glittery eyelashes.  And here goes!

Now that was a fun session!  And a great way to practice drawing animals, something I could have a bit more experience with.  Negative space further makes it easier since you are likely to focus more on the shape and outline of the subject rather than get overwhelmed with the details.  I shall definitely repeat this method especially when I’m recycling my mixing palette and wanting to use up leftover paint!

Click here for more on Tracy Verdugo and her amazing classes!