Opah!

Today I learned of the recent discovery that the Opah fish is the first fish known to be warm-blooded! Upon doing a search for images of this fish, I was blown away by its enormous size, bright coloration, and polka-dotted pattern. It looks as though Wes Anderson invented it! So, in the spirit of excitement at this recent discovery I decided to paint one. Mine is one twenty-sixth the size that these deep-water fish can grow to be, which is 2 meters long!

After a quick initial pencil sketch I painted with gouache. Here is how Opah turned out, and some pictures of the process below. :)

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I wish everyone a great Friday evening and a wonderful weekend! Opah!

April Project: Day 1

Happy Old New Year!

Yes, that's right! It's the New Year's Day of the Julian calendar! It's the day that makes people who are celebrating the new year look like fools, hence April Fool's Day is also today.

Because the old new year is starting, I am making an old new year's resolution. Every single day this month I will post a new piece of art. Please hold me accountable. Not every piece will be something amazing, but rather I am trying to loosen up and play this month. I will set aside some time to be playful and creative and experiment, and I will share it all right here on my blog and on my instagram. Feel free to follow along, friends!

Because of the French tradition of Poisson d'Avril, (April Fish), I have decided to post these watercolor fish I just made. I will likely develop this piece further another day, but to start the old new year right, I simply needed to post whatever I have to show you today! :)

If you want a laugh, look through these... Happy April Fish!