Muskie on the 180 - continued #4

Because the original fish was so mashed-potatoes-pale, adding different colors will add personality to the otherwise blank Muskie.

Muskie in the 180 - Black Daniel Smith ink on 300 series Strathmore watercolor paper.  Color added with a brush using FW acrylic inks. 

Starting with variations on the purple, I added aqua and some shadowing along the body.  You may also notice a little texture in the body of this fish; it is printed on a watercolor paper instead of the smoother printmaking paper.  In the case of the fish, the texture is a nice quality, however when this print was completely dry, it was also buckled from the moisture.  I have had very little experience with watercolor painting, so don't know if it was the paper, operator error, or if there is an easy fix, like misting then pressing......interesting effect..............

Muskie on the 180 - color variation #4

As I mentioned earlier, the side view of this fish looks nothing like this foreshortened view as he made a 180 degree turn and was caught mid-turn.  In this position, the image made me think of a very large goldfish.  I immediately thought of my childhood neighbor, Mrs. Ingersoll.

In the farthest portion of the Ingersoll back yard, away from the house, Mrs. Ingersoll had a large concrete fish pond.  Each spring, she would select one sunny, warm day to cart bucket after bucket full of sloshing "stuff"  from her basement, through the back door, down the steps and across the yard to the pond.  Once there, she would set the bucket down, put on her waders, enter the pond and then gently move the bucket into the pond and tip it on it's side.  She made trip after trip to the pond, each time completing the tipping process, well into the afternoon.

Once we were allowed to visit, we learned that each trip completed the spring migration for one large goldfish or a pond lily AND that this processional had been replicated in reverse order, the fall before.  In all, there were almost two dozen large golden and orange fish and about a dozen water lilies clumped in one end of the pond.  The golden fish, above, reminds me of one of the Ingersoll 24;  smug, plump, and confident under the protective watch of the elderly, bucket-brigade Ingersoll who had raised these massive beauties from two-inch minnows......who knew they would grow so large after a dozen or more years???...well, obviously - Mr. and Mrs. Ingersoll did!!!!