Cosmic Koi by Meg Lyman
11×14″ gouache and ink on illustration board
This was another fun experiment! I used a large ink brush by Pentel – the kind you have to squeeze to get the ink flowing – to do the outline. I painted the koi with gouache and scanned it so it could be used as a tattoo. Then I colored the background, using salt and a white ink pen to make “stars.” This is pretty much backwards from how I usually work. Finally, I went over the ink again. It was challenging, but fun.
Also, I was out of big black mats, so I painted a beige mat with black gouache. It’s quite absorbent, so it worked well with only one coat… but the black gouache came off on my fingers if I rubbed it. Solution: frame or put in a ClearBag.