Painting experiments

 

                            Koi fish at the botanical garden, Acrylic on canvas panel 11 X 14.

I had fun painting on a black background with acrylic paint. I've always enjoyed painting fish. I have some of my earlier paintings in watercolor of Koi hanging in my house. I think these have a good sense of movement. I liked the way the bright colors appeared on the black background. I enjoyed watching them at the pond at the botanical garden.  It reminded me of our trip to Israel in 2012 when we visited the kibbutz where they were being raised for sale.  Beautiful fish.

Sitting by the Snake River. 9 X 12, mixed media on paper. This was done in my sketch book with gouache, pen and ink. I also used a brayer (a type of roller). I was just having fun without making too much of a mess.  The woman sitting on the rock was another artist painting in watercolor a couple of years ago at the Swan Falls Park along the Snake River in Murphy, Idaho.  I have done very little painting with gouache, but I had a few tubes to play with.  I actually prefer painting with oils, but they take a long time to dry and I don't always have the patience for that so I decided to do some paintings that would dry quickly.