Fish Among the Coral

If my granddaughters (Julia and Grace visiting) hadn't caught me doing this, and considered it quite hilarious, I would not be showing it. My finely honed drawing skills, due to modern technology, starting with my first color copy machine several years ago, have definitely deteriorated due to lack of use.

I have been reduced to doing this: I was looking at coral reef fish, intending to attempt adding some to my little underwater scenes via waste canvas, and found some beauties on an aquarium web site. So out came the tracing paper and black felt tip pen, and I traced them directly from the computer screen - great shots of some fine looking fish. At this point, Julia walked by, and whooped for Grace to come see what Granny is doing. I believe her exact words were "Granny is cheating."

Anyway, I like the shape of these two, so took my tracings to my copy machine and reduced them in size drastically, as they will go on small ornaments.

I wanted to use one of the water droplets, but couldn't get the fish small enough without losing a lot of detail that needs to be there - so opted for a round one. The little dots you see are for the addition of clear beads, which should appear as ascending bubblesfrom the sea floor.

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The little fish is a kind of hybrid between the two tracings, but as it's only 1 1/4" long, it will do nicely, I think.

The background - water and sand - are completed on the next droplet, so I'll probably attempt the scallop shell again, but with some major adjustments - like just about everything, including the threads used and the color. Soon I need to deal with the "metal" tops of these, as I want them to appear as ornaments.

Kreinik metallic braid is certainly in the near future. I have also considered doing another version of some of these, using the Kreinik metallics for some sparkle. The #4 braid would make lovely sea fans, due to the canvas would show through if I simply do basketweave on the fan over waste canvas..