Click to make bigger.

This week of the Drawing Fish 52 project was deemed “anything goes.” Jeff is off in Alaska catching giant fish left and right (and painting, to keep up appearances). So, I decided to go with a study of a Deschutes Redside. This is a smaller piece in prep for one or more larger paintings of the same subject. As a study, I tried a number of ideas as I went, realizing that there are probably multiple versions of this that I’d like to do. The end result was actually a combo of various approaches, congealed to make something that I would consider a middle-ground (and a quickly-painted one at that). As one might expect there are some areas that are overworked, some that are a bit muddy, some that seem a bit under-worked and so forth. That’s the nature of navigating through a preliminary piece like this.

The trout in this painting is about life size (it measures approximately 14 inches long). The image is on plain, rolled paper with a torn edge and is in pencil and watercolor.

While this piece will serve as the basis for one or more larger works, I feel that it is complete enough that it can also stand alone. If you have an interest in a study-style piece, and have $50 plus some shipping burning a hole in your pocket, shoot me an email. SOLD.

If you have an interest in a bigger piece based on this study, stay tuned, that will be coming.

Update: I got an email asking: “You did this in 30 minutes?!” The answer to that one is easy: No. This was truly an “anything goes” week for the DF52 project, with no 30 minute limit, so I was able to spend a few more casual hours working things through. As a study piece for how I want to approach a bigger finished work, I needed extra time to mess around and not worry about a cut-off.