Found on Flickr: Belize Larval Fish

From the Flickr Commons: This delightful set of fish specimen photographs from the (deep breath) Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The one pictured here is the Gramma loreto, Adult (Royal Gramma).

Not only are these fish wonderful to look at, they have excellent names as well. There's the Puddingwife Wrasse, the Puffcheek Blenny, the Threeline Basslet, and the Schoolmaster Snapper, to name a few.

Click here to visit the Smithsonian Institution on Flickr.

Related: Previously in Found on Flickr Piscatorial, a set on Flickr Blog posts in the Piscatorial category

This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.

Not What I Meant

Not What I Meant, acrylic on wood panel, 2008. Click image to enlarge.

A few years back I came into a whole pile of these 8 x 22 inch wood panels. I think they were raw cabinet doors that hadn't been shaped and finished. Usually I paint on them vertically, so this is the first time I've used one in its wide format. Just in time for Illustration Friday: Wide.

Not What I Meant, detail view.

This panel was actually a so-so painting several years back. (In fact, it was one of a series of paintings I did that turned out so poorly that I realized I needed to go back to school and learn to paint. Hence: graduate school.) To start the painting you see here, I sanded the previous painting's surface, then added the red and blue. I scratched the fish shapes away with an exacto knife (and many many blades). It's so satisfying to transform a failure into a success.

Piscatorial: Tina, Truman

The Piscatorial series was originally inspired by the movie Dear Frankie (which deserves your love). Frankie is a young man who enjoys, among other things, drawing pictures of marine life. In the film Frankie's bedroom is decorated with his wonderfully whimsical and detailed sea creature drawings. Have you ever noticed how adult artists put a lot of energy into the attempt to recapture their childlike freedom of visual creation?

Tina, mixed media on MDF, 2007 Tina's pleased to meetcha!

Truman, mixed media on found wood, 2007

These fish were created using collaged paper, wallpaper, acrylic, and ink. Tina's MDF panel was one of many cut from a larger piece that I chose not to keep. I highly recommend reusing materials from unsuccessful works.

Piscatorial: Lucius, Luigi

The names just come to me while I'm working.

Lucius, mixed media on masonite, 2007

Luigi, mixed media on MDF, 2007

These fish were created using collaged paper, acrylic, and ink.

Piscatorial: Buster, Frances, Hal

Piscatorial: of or pertaining to pictures of fish.Thanks to BibliOdyssey for providing the source material for these and many other works.

Buster, mixed media on found wood, 2007.

Frances, mixed media on MDF, 2007

Hal, mixed media on MDF, 2007

These fish were made with materials including canvas, paper, wallpaper, acrylic, and ink.