Better late than never.....and another Siamese Fighting Fish

Well hello my friends. It has been a long time. I am so sorry, l have been so behind with things lately, but here l am making it up to you with a sneak preview of my latest piece. I won't even be posting these photos to Instagram until next week. And yes, it is another Fighting Fish. It was always my intention to draw a pair of these, but l keep choosing ones that don't really match! So you can be sure that there will be another before too long.
Strangely though, l have to tell you that this is the hardest piece l have worked on. I just couldn't untangle all the detail and make sense of it. Several times it nearly got consigned to a spot behind the cupboard of no return! But when you have spent so many hours working on a piece (the first shot is two days work), there is a grim determination that sets in, so despite my eyes straining and feeling so horribly frustrated l made myself plough on.
Worse still l really wasn't that happy with it at the stages you see below. It has taken me a long time to start to understand that l mustn't let the negative feelings that often come with the early stages of a piece stop me from completing it. It is quite normal, especially with coloured pencil, for work to look flat, dull or even downright scribble early on.

Below there is the start of another fin going in and l felt a bit better. By now l could see that the colors would look good, but untangling the reference photo was still a problem and turned out to be so throughout the entire piece. The fins cross, go under and over as well as all the shapes that they make. It can feel a bit overwhelming. If l find myself starting to feel that way l break it down into even smaller sections than normal. Concentrating on one teeny, tiny section at a time makes it feel much more manageable.

I guess that would be my tip for any piece. If you are struggling, break it down, work on a smaller area, if you are still struggling, go smaller still. It doesn't matter, each tiny piece eventually makes a complete picture. And l am so happy that l kept going with this piece because in the end l am pretty pleased with it. It should be available to order from my shop later this week, so do watch out for it.

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