Fabulous Fish!

These fabulous schools of fish resemble the batik fish project we did a couple of years ago, but our process was a bit different. 






This time we used white oil pastel to 'resist' the paint instead of masking fluid because our format was larger so we needed a speedier way to complete the project within the given time. Also, I'm not crazy about letting younger artists work with masking fluid; it dries quickly and it has to be completely rubbed off after the painting is dry.






I have a number of fish templates, from which a favorite is  drawn at least five times as if swimming in the same direction and overlapping for realism. 






Eyes and simple patterns are also added within each fish, and then all lines are traced heavily with white oil pastel.

Each fish is then painted with thinned liquid watercolor so that the oil pastel resists the paint.






The space around the fish is painted a new color, and the eyes are outlines with a Sharpie.

Some artists painted a different type of fish hidden somewhere within their school of fish!