I have been taken with all my hundreds of photos I took of these koi fish when we were in Hawaii last year. The idea was to come back home and use them in paintings. But true to my nature, procrastination took over and the Koi were admired only in the photo album. Browsing the album lately rekindled that idea and here are some studies, done from the computer screen. When working from photos I always cramp up in tight spasm and lose all spontaneity. so after doing about two or three, I grabbed for my earphones and the Piano concertos of Beethoven 4 and 5 andPiano a La Roque dAntheron to keep me loose. I think in study 3, one of the earlier of 7 studies you can still see the cramped up tightness.
With some more studying of the Koi and their movements and habits and play, I would like to move on to oil and maybe do a series. I efintely want MOVEMENT in the paintings, because Koi are so playful and almost mischievous and I want to capture that, rather than a perfectly painted Koi fish.
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AfricantapestryAll these studies done in pen and watercolor on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, CP, 18x26cm.
..koi study 7..
...koi study 4..
..koi study 2..
4 comments:
I love these Ronell! Love the colours, love the skethy treatment, love the flow and real sense of movement!
Very interesting, I like your solution to the tightness problem. I think the use of photographs has a very bad press with many people seeing it as cheating when in actual fact it can be a very useful tool, as you have shown here
What I like most about these is that the fish actually are under the water. Its often a difficult illusion to create but you've succeeded well here.
I agree with Sarah, photos should be seen as just another tool in the artist's arsenal.
I agree - they are fluid and very believably moving under water - lovely loose paintings :>)
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