Original Watercolor, Gouache, and Ink on Fabriano Hot Press 300gsm Paper
12 × 18 in / 30.5 × 45.7 cm
Unframed
2024

I'm a scuba diver and I take all my own reference photos underwater. This puffer fish was already puffed when I found him — I did nothing to startle him, I promise. There's something irresistible about a creature that is simultaneously ridiculous and perfect: all those spines, that indignant little face, the sheer improbability of the whole design. I wanted to see what watercolor could do with him. It turned out to be the right medium: loose enough for the softness underneath all that armor, precise enough for the spines. I liked him enough to paint him twice — this time against open water.