Fish Market

Fish Market
watercolor by Jane McElvany Coonce

 People ask me how do I know what I want to paint.  I'm always searching for new ideas that excite me.  Sometimes I find these ideas in places I would never expect.  It can be a beautiful scene of a new place I'm visiting or an old familiar scene that I just love. Sometimes it's certain colors that attract me.  In this case, I saw the fish, loved all the colors, and knew I had to paint them.  I loved the juxtaposition of the textured tray with the scaly fish.  And the colors on the fish were incredible! Next time you go to a market, especially a place like H Mart out in Merrifield, (it's an Asian market if you aren't familiar with it) take a look at their fish department.  It's incredible!  Not only do they have tasty fish, but I've bought seafood just so I could paint it!  This one, though, I did from a photograph.  After the "model" sits under the lights for hours, holding still for the artist, it would probably not be a good idea to eat the subject matter.