Thursday, March 4, 2010

Trout Unlimited fundraiser


Bow River Brown - 24x30" acrylic SOLD

Here is my latest: This is my donation for a fundraiser with an organization called Trout Unlimited. They work to conserve, protect and restore Canada's freshwater ecosystems and their resources for current and future generations. They are having a fundraiser event on March 18th in Calgary so this is where this painting is destined ... I know I usually paint landscapes, but I have always had a fascination for fish. At one point I used to collect anything fish-related! I have a friend in Calgary who is helping to organize the event and this is a photo from one of his many fishing trips. What a beautiful trout! I used the slower drying acrylics to do the background water and regular acrylics for the trout. The trickiest part? Getting the colours of the fingers right. My brain kept on making me paint it differently than it looked in my photo. Just kind of reinforces my instinct to stay away from painting people. (Although I do know that the more I do it the easier it would get, I just have no desire to at this point).

I'll let you in on a little secret of mine - often when I'm doing a painting, I do another smaller one at the same time, using the same paint colours that I've already mixed. It doesn't take any time at all, as my brain is already trained from working on the larger painting ... And I get an extra painting out of it. Here is the smaller version (no fingers in this one!).

Trout - 6x8" acrylic SOLD

4 comments:

Kim Rempel said...

That's one good looking trout! The way you handled the sparkle in the water is really nice.

Rick Nilson said...

beautiful.

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Lisa, This trout is a wonderful painting, love the water and the colors and treatment of the fish, and those fingers are incredible.

I am you newest follower! Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Lisa Riehl said...

Thanks all of you! I might just start painting more fish...sans fingers