Native Parrot Fish - using a limited pallette

An artists life is full of opportunities and unusual events if one keeps ones eyes wide open...

Yesterday was a day off so went costal for the morning. Caught nothing I was allowed to keep and so decided to have a final fish and a bit of a dip in the rivermouth at Taipa. Unbeknownst to me there was a HUGE fishing competition on based at the same place so I arrive in my very casual attire and wade out with my rod and cast into the current where the river hits the sea (sometimes when the kahawai are running you can pull in a few nice fish). Well - not a sausage! and the sun was beating down so decided to head for home.

Waded into shore and there right in front of me just floating along was the most perfectly positioned black fish - rigormotous had set in so it was positioned to look like it was swimming. So I scooped it up - someone had thoughtfully scaled it already - must have been one of the competition catches. Even though it was fresh I was a bit too chicken to eat it so instead saved it for today to use as a subject study. These fish though are beautiful eating if gutted and stuffed with a little salt and lemon and olive oil, wrapped in tin foil and baked in the oven, YUM!

1. Background was already done last year waiting for the appropriate subject matter. Laying in the outlines and position using chalk - want the eye to be in the middle of the first third line...

2. The stomach was very bloated this morning and the flies began to gather after a few minutes of the fish being out even there was no real smell of offness. It was an interesting painting experience because the fish grew whiter and the eyes dulled as the painting progressed so I had to keep in mind what it looked like when I initially scooped it out of the water. The eyes surprised me as I thought fish eyes were round but these were not totally. I'm using mussel shells instead of a palette board at the moment.

3. After 2 hours of painting. Palette used: Lemon yellow, titanium white, phthalo blue and burnt seinna