Brown Trout Coloring: Experimentation Continues

Layer #2 adding acrylic "blobs" to another base coat sample.  Acrylic on paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

I started being more deliberate by using a #8 round brush and laying down blobs of color.  I think this is getting closer to the color, but I think the trout community would launch a protest to be depicted with such a messy and haphazard scale pattern.  On to the next trial.

Trial #3 - Layer #2 also has the addition of acrylic "blobs" on the original base-coat colors.  Acrylic on paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

Same colors of paint in layers 1 and 2, but with a different brush and technique in the second layer.  The brush is a #2 script, and each blob is made by making a deliberate circular or oval motion.  The regularity is more "troutlike," and with a deliberate color pattern application, is an improvement over the first two trials.

On to trial #4.

In the fourth trial, I began by defining the negative space on top of the base-coat, then filled in each of the positive spaces with the potential scale colors. I like the intensity of the base color as it shows through in the pattern.  The raw umber circles look too sketch and watery to be the finished image, however.  I will make a second one of these with the intention of making additional enhancements once it dries.

Trial #4 - Layer #2 is simply raw umber outlines connected together.  Click on image to enlarge. 

The transparency of the layers is very appealing, but the outlining is too "painterly."

Sidebar note:  "Painterly" is a word that Liz Sivertson used in a recent workshop at the Art Colony in Grand Marais.  She strives to have each of her paintings have strong "painterly" quality.

Although I understood exactly what she was referring to, I have not thought about the deliberateness of this style of painting.  At this point in time, I think there is a fine line between "painterly" and "not there yet...." in trout scales.