cc2000 | Christmas Koi | 2000

Christmas Koi, 2000

Watercolor and ink, 11" x 9.5" (Merry collection).  One of my favorite paintings with heavy Japanese influence - the Koi (carp).  My appreciation of these fish, which are symbols of strength, really grew when I discovered they can live to be over seventy years old.  The sketch had the fish in red stripes, but I thought that was a bit cheesy.  It was enough of a stretch to candy-cane the bamboo, but I liked how it turned out.  I also like the sphere in the background.  Random but worked.

the sketch...

Christmas Koi, 2000
Pencil

This drawing turned into Christmas Koi. Another sketch was involved – a close up of the fish and bamboo instead of the wheat looking stuff on the left. As you can see, the fish was going to be candy caned – I’m much happier it’s on the bamboo.

People ask me where I get my ideas. I don’t always know. For example, the sphere behind the tail has nothing to do with the theme, but it was fun to draw. It’s in the final painting and I think it works well. The symbol in the lower right is Kanji for Nippon (Japan). I didn’t use it, but it probably would have worked.

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