Wild Goldfish

6x6 watercolor over Pigma Micron 01 ink sketch I painted before while in Arizona.  Painting time was very quick using no color reference, just pure artistic impulse or intuition.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Koi Kraze

8x8 watercolor on Masters 140 lb cold press done today from my koi pond photos taken in Midland at Alldredge Gardens recently.  The white koi were the largest I'd ever seen and so neat with their speckled bodies.  Colors used to paint the water were sepia and indigo blue with cerulean blue first in the tiny swirl areas.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Christian's Koi

15x10.25 watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper, drawn and painted from one of my giant koi pond photos taken at the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton.  Their darting about under the water seemed to go with the gesso streaks as if water was actually above them.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Blue Koi

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper begun this weekend then finished today.  As part of a WetCanvas event, artists have 2 hours to choose an image then paint it so I chose this blue fish (courtesy Li Newton).  It was first drawn in ink in my sketchbook then traced onto the wc paper which had various marks on its surface from other works.  Touches of white gouache were used. A lot of work but a lot of fun!
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Koi Couple

18x24 watercolor started yesterday and finished today of two koi fish swimming.  I used Canson 140 lb cold press paper and a 1" flat brush.  The dark water with its yellow green reflections was a challenge.  This one will be featured on a monthly challenge on WetCanvas! in the Animal & Wildlife forum.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Kool Koi

15x11 watercolor on Yupo medium weight synthetic paper, drawn and painted today on the backside of another work.  These 3 guys look like they're up to no good swimming there in their own little world.  I used Daniel Smith transparent pyrrol orange, gamboge, quinacridone burnt orange and quin gold, yellow, UB, and American Journey Midnight Blue and raw umber violet.

Goldfish Abstraction - Fishing for Compliments II

18x14 acrylics on matboard from an abstract underpainting using yellow, orange, and white Liquitex paints, similar to my first one.  Using phthalo blue and mint green I went around edges, negatively painting a goldfish shape, then added kelp seaweed in front of and behind him.  Fuchsia and olive green were other colors used for accents.

Christian's Koi

15x11 watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper, drawn and painted from one of my giant koi pond photos taken at the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton.  Their darting about under the water seemed to go with the gesso streaks as if water was actually above them.

Fishing for Compliments

From a loose acrylics abstraction to a vertical goldfish, 13x10 on Crescent matboard. This took 10 minutes to do the abstract and a few minutes to draw in colored pencil, then an hour to paint its background water and seaweed in Liquitex paints.