The other night I finished a painting of a leafy sea dragon. I saw one of these beautiful fish a week or so ago on TV and decided that it would be a really fun thing to paint. I hunted down a couple of different reference pictures online, and from those, drew out an original pose and composition.
The painting is mostly watercolors on cold press paper. I worked from the background to the foreground, laying washes and building up shadows one layer at a time. When the painting was nearly complete, I went in with colored pencils and outlined areas that I wanted extra separation in. The end result looks a little like a shadow box: flat layers built on top of one another to create an illusion of depth. You can view this and more of my work by visiting my website: Shaunart.net This painting is for sale as a print on Etsy!
