FAT FISH

The pic that inspired me.

Sometimes I get inspired by a photograph I see in a paper or magazine.  It might be the composition, subject or colour.  In this case, I saw this photograph of a fish on a dish and I really liked the subject and composition.  I decided I would make the dish blue and white, as I am particularly fond of blue and white china.

I started  with a board which already had wooden struts added at the back, ready for hanging.  As this was recycled wood it contained small holes etc., so I added a thin layer of multi purpose Polyfilla, and scratched my basic shapes into it. After that I covered it with torn up sheets of vintage papers and paper napkins using only blue and white for the dish. Gesso, alcohol inks and acrylic paint added to the effect I wanted.

My fish somehow became rather large so I called it Fat Fish and cut out letters from a magazine to spell this out. The plate has details from a seafood restaurant.  Extra details were added with my Molotow markers and I used green interference acrylic paint on some areas of the fish to give that iridescent gleam that fish have.  I really enjoyed doing the fish so may well do some more in the future, using interference paints, which show up particularly well on dark backgrounds.

'Fat Fish' - mixed media on board (31cms x 50cms)