Under the Sea

Inktober 2016: Oct 16 – Garibaldi

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101616-inktober-garibaldi-for-carol-final Garibaldi are the largest members of the Damselfish family, which surprised me. I’m only familiar with the smaller damselfish commonly found in people’s aquariums. Apparently Garibaldi are easy to find if you’re diving or exploring the sea with a glass-bottom boat. It’s hard to imagine something so colorful inhabiting our local waters!

101616-inktober-garibaldi-ink-onlyThis time I thought to scan the fish before painting it. It’s the largest drawing of Inktober 2016 so far and possibly the largest thing I have drawn all year. Someone offered me knitted socks in exchange for a Garibaldi painting – I figured if she was going to work that hard, I had better do the same! This fish takes up the entire 9″ x 12″ page from the Windpower pad. I put down the base drawing with the Kuretake #40 ink brush using several reference images. Now, on to the paint!   Read more

Inktober: Oct 14 – Garibaldi Fish

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101416-inktober-garabaldiSomeone suggested drawing these gorgeous fish that can be found off the local shores. Found a reference image in my favorite fish pose, and that sealed the deal!

I drew him too close to the spiral to get both fins, so left the spiral in the image, just to make sense of the half-fin. He’s made of PO62 Benzi Orange and PO73 Pyrrole, with Cobalt for the shadows. The background is both of the Phthalo greens, PG7 and PG36. Not pigments I use often, but the right choice here. I’m particularly pleased with the cobalt. Up close, there’s some beautiful interplay and texture where it pushed aside the orange pigment particles and flowed into the shadow areas.

PO73+PO62 is fast becoming my favorite orange. Benzi Orange by itself often hasn’t got enough depth, it’s more like a school-bus yellow than a true orange. PO73 Pyrrole is strident, but turns salmon pink in tints. In combination, they pack a powerful punch as a middle orange that stays true in the faintest washes. They’re especially nice when mixed on the paper, as I used them here.