Fishy Collage Detail

Ever had the feeling that you should sometimes just give up on something? Well, that’s exactly how this painting went for me. There is a figure (a fisherman) who is the main subject of this painting but it went so wrong I feel a little embarrassed to show it so have cropped him out, ha ha!! However – it wasn’t all bad as I really like the background. I collaged torn rectangles of some papers I coloured up over 13 years ago when I was at school doing my art A’Level.  I think this may be the reason I am disappointed with this piece as I had ‘high hopes’ using these papers I have kept for so long and became a little sentimental over them, but it just didn’t work out as I expected. The fishies are cut from car-body repair mesh and hand sewn to the canvas. Along the way though I have learned about using Golden Matt Medium as a barrier to protect and save the base paper below – so all is not lost. On top of the Matt Medium I have layered up thin washes of acrylic paint which I have sanded and peeled back in places and then layered over again.  The background on it’s own is pretty cool, I guess!!