Strength, Courage & Wisdom

By 6:29 PM

I've been experimenting a lot with black paper these days. I've had this pad for years and found it so intimidating... However, I finally got over my hesitation to start using it. The experience has been truly addictive thus far. (My boyfriend actually does think I'm addicted to it) 

Something else that's outside of my comfort zone is drawing fishes. The Mahi-Mahi that I painted a couple days ago was incredibly difficult for me. At many points I wanted to give up (as per usual) but I persevered. Now that the mental block against fishes is gone, I want to do a few more fish and underwater scenes.

I've been doing a lot of pieces these days at work. However, I shall be posting these sort of artwork updates  with the progression of the piece to completion every Sunday and/or Wednesday. SOOOO check for updates...! (Do note, this isn't the final look for the pieces as they are unframed/unmounted, I will do a collective post with mounted pieces once I do so. Saving up to pay for framing currently.. SPONSORS/DONATIONS WELCOMED :D)

I selected the koi as my second fish attempt as I was looking for something symbolic in tune with a song that was stuck in my head that morning "Strength, Courage & Wisdom" by India Arie. These fish tend to be associated with such I discovered and I guess... that's the reason for their popularity in tattoos and such. The colours selected for the fish primarily being red & yellows are also considered to be symbolic of the same theme I was going for.

First I sketched it with a pencil lightly.

Then I outlined the pencil with a white pastel pencil.

I proceeded to fill in the pastel colour. I thought it looked sooooo pretty at this stage I was tempted to leave it with the faux impasto look created by just layering the colour.

The colour blended in with my fingers and a blending tool.

Background "river" added in.

The background blended in.

Piece completed but unmounted.

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