Date: 5/15/2013
Size: 48" x 36"
Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
Artist's Comments: A husband and wife contacted me to create a large painting for the main wall in their living room. Mrs. loves koi fish and they were flexible on what scene I wanted to create. I immediately envisioned a small pool of water fed by gentle waterfalls with just a bit of foliage noticeable on the shoreline. I wanted it to be evident that this pond was in Hawaii so we collaborated on inserting lawa'e ferns along the shoreline and yellow plumeria fallen from a tree and floating down the stream. The "looking down" perspective would allow the koi fish to be undoubtedly the focal point of the scene and it was important that they were rendered with detail and in the correct colors. After setting up and receiving approval on the initial sketch, I started a long process of collecting all the bits of information that I would need to create this scene. I visited many koi ponds and took countless pictures of graceful koi. I realized through this process how each koi fish is truly unique and how many wonderful varieties there are! I returned with some photo portraits of a selection of koi for the client to select to ensure the colors and variety of fish I selected were what they envisioned. Once all approvals were received, I started to get some paint down on the canvas. Another element important was to bring a wonderful turquoise color to the water (a favorite color). I thought it would be nice to have a sense of depth to the pond where the turquoise color would become lighter and reveal pebbles on the bottom of the shore in the shallow areas. This would also allow me to bring some shadows beneath the fish swimming in those areas to further accentuate them. Lotus are in bloom and I allowed the fish to swim below just a few edges of them to help the lotus appear to float on top of the surface. In the distance, a koi breaks the surface and creates a wonderful ripple in the otherwise still surface. Soft fingers of water trickle down the rich colors of the rock waterfall some barely noticeable. This allows the scene to have a calm feeling - you can almost hear that soft lullaby!
To view other paintings in my collection, click on the section labeled "View all SitaScapes" located at the top right of my blog. I have categorized my paintings by the month as I complete them.
