Fancy Goldfish Power by Meg Lyman

24×12″ oil on board

I started this painting a long time ago. It survived a cross-country move in between 18 months of me working on it when I could. With commission work, calendar art to finish, and shiny objects everywhere, I get distracted from personal projects easily. I should really not do that. I am not going to get any better at painting my visions (that sounds really pretentious sorry) if I don’t practice regularly. And yet I keep taking commissions. There is clearly something wrong with my brain.

Anyway, this isn’t the first time I’ve posted about this piece. I underpainted it with magenta because of reasons. As you can see, the grey of the pole isn’t so eyeball-breaking now, but the underpainting adds a nice vibrancy. I also planned this composition carefully, keeping rhythm and visual pathways in mind. And I didn’t adhere strictly to my gamut map, but used it more as a guide. Learning things is fun! And also really overwhelming because I never feel like I have a handle on everything I should.

Nonetheless, I kinda like this painting. Probably mostly because it’s the first wobbly, tentative step of my grand journey. I may twist some ankles along the way, but as long as I don’t fall face first into the mud I’ll consider it progress.

Disapproving Goldfish is judging me