Sunfish

Oil pastels on canvas paper, 6" x 8".

This one was done by interpreting a step by step acrylic painting in How to Paint Wildlife Portraits in Oil Pastels, Oils and Acrylics by H. P. McLaughlin. I did it as an illustration for my book review of that title, Walter Foster volume #173, on www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com and might part with it if someone makes an offer. It would be a bargain because I haven't used my artist grade pastels on this one and it's not on all-rag paper or something museum-archival.

I never go over $25 for anything done with student grade supplies, so keep that in mind if you make an offer. Or I could redo it on good Fredrix canvas with artist grade pastels, which might be something I'll do anyway. The background is entirely original from imagination, I didn't like the background McLaughlin used with it -- it seemed a little strained trying to jam in the stones and twigs on the bottom behind the fish. So I drew a bigger log and added a few stones in a way I thought balanced better.

It's interesting, most times people think of doing fish on a blue background. That is accurate enough for sea life, but when you get into freshwater lakes and streams it's more usually green or brown depending on whether silt or algae is what's coloring the water. I know I'm going to explore a few more fish paintings and this is just a start.

I have been doing a lot of small format art lately and should post here more often.