Bim's Snapper

Today Bim collected me and we headed up North to take photos for the Orca painting and also to do a spot of fishing. Above photo is of the snapper he caught at a magical place where we stood on the wharf and watched as 3 BIG Kingfish herded a huge school of pipers and then went into a feeding frenzy. The biggest one hid in the shadows of the old wooden posts and would burst out on the unsuspecting fish as they swam past. Easily 3 ft long at the least. Bim was telling me about seeing the Orca herding stingrays up the harbour and hunting them in packs. New Zealand is the most amazing place!
Had to take a photo of the snapper because i want to paint it but if the innards are left in they will taint the flesh and have no energy to paint it tonight. Peter kindly held the dorsal fin (I think that is what it is called) upright for the photo so it looks like it is swimming. Yay for him and yay for photoshop! So snapper for tea tonight and good subject for painting in the morning. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

POST NOTE: 18 APRIL Have begun doing memory postcards of images i see that really stick in my mind and need to be painted out so the black Angus cattle on the lime green kaykouya grass (sp) and the schooling pipefish have been done over the last week. Still have not painted the snapper - my printer is playing up and refuses to print anything.

Anyway...here's the pipefish both underway and the completed image (I ended up doing 7 postcards of this altogether - one for myself, one for Bim, 1 to post and 4 to frame up and hopefully sell)(LOVE the movement and the patterning in the images)

and also the Angus series.