The Shadow Fisher

When you need to go fishing an old legend says that you need to lean over the water to cast a shadow and the fish will congregate there for easy pickings. That might work for minnow fishing but probably not for big ocean fishing. This painting was based on a doodle done a while ago, it depicts an abstract character fishing for ideas. I liked the name shadow fisher because it was like somebody fishing for shadows and that seemed impossible.

Painting shadows is actually ideal for watercolour as compared to other types of paint since the watercolour paint tends to blend into the background and it makes for nice translucent layers. Here I made the shadows for the trees using wet-in-wet techniques, then when that was just a bit dry I added the second layer. I used plenty of sky-blue to get that shimmering effect on the shadows. Also made the share line and waves a bit darker where the shadow fell.

8 x 10" (20.5 x 26 cm) cold press watercolour, October 2016.