Cleaning The Fish

'Cleaning The Fish'

Inspiration for this painting came from a favorite adventure magazine of mine.  This lone fisherman cleaning his catch in a tidal pool really spoke to me and I believed that it would make a good large painting.  It took me quite a while to finish this work but I am fairly pleased with the outcome.  It is considerably more loose a style of painting than I am use to but if I do not test new waters then I feel my art becomes stagnant and I quickly become disinterested in it.  When I complete a work like this I feel that I have not only expanded my knowledge but also my ability.  This work measures @ 19" x 22" and is available for purchase.  Email me for information.

Since I did take a few shots of the work in progress, I have included a progressive picture record of this work.  Firs,t as always, I do a detail sketch to get the proportion and overall look I want.

Next is a build up of paint and color around the main subject.  First laying down the light under color and progressively adding color into a deeper and darker hues.

I then began to focus on the native fisherman and his tropical clothes.  

I finally add the color of the deep flesh tones using a mix of burnt sienna, light oxidized red, and a light blue.  Moving the paint gently around to get the subtle skin tones and shadows on the skin.

You also might notice a fish on the back of my shirt.  For those of you that have been following my site for a while, you might just recognize this fish.  It is my Brown In Hand painting from last year.  The site on the bottom of the shirt is a company I am now involved with. I will be doing more detailed posts in the coming weeks about this new venture, but for now, enjoy this painting and visit HexFishing.com if you get a chance. - Shirts like the one you see here are available for purchase.