Koi Fish

"Koi Fish"

By Megan Simpson

As a kid, my grandma and I would work at the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Roanoke, Virginia together. When we would take breaks to go eat or walk around, we would always go up to the roof garden they have in the middle of downtown. To this day it is one of my favorite places to go. In the garden, it not only has succulents hanging from the walls and flowers growing all around, it also has a little area where koi fish swim around. I have always been fascinated by how intricate and colorful they looked, which lead me to paint a watercolor image of them. In this painting called “Koi Fish,” I expected great challenges in using watercolor to be completely honest; however, I have found that this is my favorite form of media I have used so far. I used various bright colors of orange and red in the designs on the koi fish to truly emphasize their stunning features. To create “bubbles” in the water, I splattered darker blue paint strategically around the fish. In this painting, I also made a point to create the shadows of the fish to make it seem more realistic and more three-dimensional. I also chose to make them forming a circular shape instead of a scattered position to form symmetry and movement throughout the piece.