Adaptation

Acrylic on canvas, 8" x 10", 2005.

Inspired by some amazing art I saw at the Dahesh Museum, this was my attempt to do some detailed artwork on a flat untextured panel. I did some studies of actual trees before attempting this one, so that I could get a sense of how trees branched as they grew and how the leaves hang off the branches. This tree is a loose interpretation of the tree which is outside my bedroom window... something like an Ash tree? Who knows. The fish is a Pacific Creole fish, which is a species I picked because I thought it looked nice and it is not well-known. I did a bunch of studies of the fish based on pictures I found on the Internet. It is only about an inch long, but I wanted to be accurate!

I began the painting in the summer of 2005. Here are some shots of the painting in progress. Color differences are the result of inconsistent photography...

I painted the entire tree, leaves and all (sorry no photo), but I had to put the painting away because my apartment was having some work done on it and I wanted to protect the painting. Soon after this, I began taking a class and did not have time to finish the painting. All I needed was the fish! 4 months later, when I finally had Winter vacation, I bought a new easel and finished the painting. Ironically, it only took about 30 minutes to do the fish and I was all done. Here it is in its finished form, framed and hung on the wall: