"Little Koi" A watercolor original ACEO

Here is how you paint this
1. You put on the background all at once. Mix up your colors get a brush for each color if you don’t paint fast. I use flats but you can use whatever you think fits your hand. I painted this with a 1/2 inch flat but if this seems big you can use 1/4 or if you like round brushes…a number 6
round.
Without drawing the fish just start laying down the color in a pattern that seems the way water moves. The dark colors against the light colors, warm colors against the cool colors…back and forth. Do not paint he area where the fish will be. Leave this area for last. Also: don’t let the paint dry. Before it starts to dry, paint the fish negatively. This means paint the background around the fish. Now let this dry. Come back and paint the fish once the background has dried and in one or two spots you might soften an edge or two. After the fish and the background are dry take a good look at it and determine if any part of the background seems muddy or messy. Glaze over this area with one of the transparent colors you have chosen and this should help that part of the painting. If it is too light you can put on another layer of color and deepen the color until it is the value you want. Try doing a small Koi first, like this ACEO and then do larger pieces. Good luck!