Well, I had enough fun painting the previous fish that I thought I’d do a few more. These are a 180ยบ from the day job, medical illustration work. With that, every artery, muscle, tendon and bone has to be in just the perfect place, or you will hear about it. On top of that you have to please art directors and committees, which can seem like an uphill battle at times. There is little room for artistic freedom. When I’m painting birds there is a similar quest for accuracy and detail. Fortunately, in the bird paintings there are opportunities for making artistic images within those constraints.
These quick paintings allow me to go a little nuts and just have fun. The wild, loose backgrounds are fun to paint, and coming up with outrageous fish is entertaining. With these, the anatomy is right when I say it is. It’s hard for me to stop putting in detail, but I’m trying not to work these paintings to death. It takes a surprising amount of practice to make a successful loose, splashy background.
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