Monday, February 17, 2014

Fish Lips

I took this photo a few years ago and have always intended to paint it.  It cracks me up every time I look at it.  Living in Orange County, plastic surgery and cosmetic enhancements are fairly common.  To me, one of the most noticeable procedures is lip enhancement.  When I saw this photo, it made me think of people that take enhancing their lips a bit too far.  Is this the look they're trying to achieve?  The other fish looks a bit envious, don't you think?

I had so much fun painting this.  I started with a handmade piece of circular watercolor paper that has a beautiful deckle edge. It isn't sized so I sealed it with acrylic matte medium.  My intention was to use watercolor as my medium but I was having trouble building my darks so I switched to acrylic thinned to a watercolor consistency.  Painting the thin layers to build up the colors and seeing the image emerge was really enjoyable.

Fish Lips
Image size 21.5" Diameter
Acrylic

6 comments:

  1. I love this koi painting...SO unique and it looks like watercolor! Excellent!

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  2. Thank you Hilda. It is very much like watercolor because I used the liquid acrylics and used watercolor techniques. The only thing missing is the wonderful sedimentary quality of the watercolor paints. I am thinking of adding a few last layers using watercolor so that I can get that feel.

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  3. Fish have made me squeamish since I was a little girl (and still do). But these two look so beautiful! I love the colors and motion in the water itself. And I can think of a couple of actresses with lips just like that white fish's lips. Great work, Nancy!!

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  4. Oh you crazy girl, all those enhanced lips are pouting!!! This is fun, they make such good subjects, always begging. I am intrigued at how you got such nice blending and soft edges with the acrylic. Still have much to learn in that media. As always you have a way with water and love all the color in it.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Nelvia. The blending was easy because the paper was sealed so the paint didn't sink into the paper and I worked very wet so there was plenty of time to work with the paint.

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