A Fish Called Fazel

Nervously I entered the mall, walking purposefully but slowly. In the center, between restaurants and the escalator, were two rows of tables with easels placed on each of the small tables. My family dragged me, kicking and screaming, to paint in the ‘fish bowl’. It was Valentine’s Day and not even priority work could save me. I succumbed.

INTRODUCTION

The instructor and her assistants were putting final touches to their preparation. It was a few minutes before the start. My daughter, who’d done this before, scanned and surveyed available seats, eliminated the rows that had less space, and motioned us to suitable spots. I looked up to see the painting we had to tackle. A top view of a pond, green water lily pads on the sides with swirling blue water caused by two orange, black and white koi fish swimming in circular motion. A Piscean symbol. I was horrified. Deep breath. I do not even have memory of painting at school. Music and art had always eluded me with both destined to be tackled in retirement when we have to find stuff to do.

Instructor’s Painting – our goal

I enjoy visiting galleries, learning about artists and their historical period and viewing paintings. Recently, we visited the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation in Forest town to appreciate the exciting and contrasting works of Frida Kahlo (Mexico), Amrita Sher-Gil (India) and Irma Stern (South Africa). But, to paint. And, in the fish bowl as restaurant guests, movie goers and shoppers walk and stare. Yoh.

PREPARATION

A thin and a slightly large brush was placed on some serviettes together with a small piece of sponge. A plastic cup half filled with water lay next to it. My tools. I lifted the plastic apron off the easel as I watched the others. I put it on neatly tying it at the back. Nervousness. I sat down, waited for others to arrive and surveyed the class. Many old hats but several who felt like emotional mirrors.

The facilitator called us to attention focusing primarily on calming our nerves. She outlined our task and went through the rules. “Thou shall not laugh” and “Thou shall be encouraging” did not inspire much confidence. Well laughter and admonishment is not entirely bad I thought. One of the assistants placed a plastic plate with blobs of dark blue, lighter blue, yellow and white paint. Horror. I knew greens and oranges can be derived but I had to derive it. Flip.

The instructor showed and walked us through by demonstrating how to paint the background using either the larger brush or the sponge. Now I had no choice, I was committed. “Jump in the pool”, my internal voice shouted. Deep breadth. Plunge.

BACKGROUND

I started, deciding to use the larger brush, dabbing the outer with darker blue. Stealing glances, I noticed how easily and confidently my neighbours were caressing the canvas. This increased my anxiety. Instructions especially by Creatives are, well, creative. I was uncertain. Everyone was busy and some appeared confused but carried on painting. Remarkable.

The instructor spoke a bit more, dabbed more on her canvass moving on to a lighter blue in the center. Ok, getting clearer. The background did not land in my mind but I dabbed and dabbed. The intersection of the dark and lighter blue enabled almost a medium blue all blending in. My arthritic hands were slightly sore but I was easing into the task at hand. I got up to rest and take a bathroom break to focus and gain perspective.

The final element of the background required some splashes and sparkles. It was executed by dabbing some white paint and spraying white dots by running your finger through the brush. Brush, finger, paint and me were now one, united in action.

WATER LILY PADS

Next, the green water lily pads which required mixing the light blue and yellow paints to find the green shade you want. There is no perfect way so I tried in a small part of the plate. Interestingly, feedback was not only immediate but easily acceptable, adding little more of this and more of that like cooking a sumptuous curry.

It took me time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them – Claude Monet

Shaping the pads was as challenging as the brush strokes. By the second pad I was fully immersed. Gaining a little confidence, I decided to use my creative license to rather layer a few lily pads and place them differently. I still did not have my full picture in mind. I was creating as I went along.

Few friends walking through the mall came over to greet, providing some encouraging support. By now onlookers were happily ignored. They did not even exist. I completed the lily pads by adding some white veins.

KOI (CARP) FISH

Temporarily pleased with myself, I looked up as the instructor talked about and demonstrated painting the fish. Fear returned but messy hands and a passable background kept it at bay. We had two options, paint by hand or use the stencil. Go big or go home my inner voice shouted. Deep breadth. I got up and took another bathroom break. Focus. Perspective.

I spoke to the instructor in a vain hope of transposing her confidence, skill and prowess. Mostly, I was buying time and calmness. Back to my seat. The others were well into their fishes so I had to get cracking. My daughter, using a pencil, showed me the overall outline which I practiced on the paper tablecloth. The stencil was just not an option. It felt like cheating. But, in art nothing is cheating.

Koi is a symbol of the strength, courage, and patience. According to Chinese legend, a carp which courageously climbed up waterfalls was turned into a dragon. “Koi no takinobori (鯉の滝登り, Koi’s waterfall climbing)” means, “to succeed vigorously in life.” – Chinese legend

“Go big  or go home”, my inner voice asserted, “Instead of circular Koi, let’s rather get the fish coming in from one end (mostly head) and another exiting the other end (mostly tail and torso) with one full koi in the middle”. The rational voice chirped “not sure where this confidence comes from when hands must paint”. It dawned on me that I did not have this picture when I started. My background, splashes and lily pads would have been different.

Using a pencil, I drew the head and fins of the top fish on the canvas. I asked the assistant for some red paint and mixed it with the yellow to get the orange I wanted. I tried getting better strokes so that it looked smoother and authentic but that eluded me. Skills I have yet to learn. I first painted the orange bit of the torso then white for the top part of the head and fins. I proceeded to paint the fish exiting the pond leaving the more difficult full koi for last. The tail was challenging as I did not have a mental reference for a non-circular koi fish. And, I never thought of googling in the middle of painting. Duh.

I did not know how to start a full koi that was not like the circular koi displayed. I drew a pencil outline with the tail again proving to be a challenge. Nevertheless I proceeded to paint the orange and white parts and adjusted the tail until I was reasonably happy that I did my best. It was not a masterpiece but it was my one and only piece.

FINISHING TOUCHES

I called for some black paint to add the eyes and black parts. Dabbed some red for the mouths and clumsily painted the barbels (whiskers). I stood up, stepped back and surveyed my work. It needed some fine touches. I repainted some of the orange and white parts to ensure consistency, added a forgotten fin, re-did another and touched up some lily pads. Despite my initial anxiety, I was reasonably happy with my first attempt. After closer inspection of the original and some of the other class paintings and further self-evaluation, I can see my flaws and shortcomings. It turned out to be a fun evening and a wonderful diversion from the hum-drum and the pressures of work.

Instructor, other attendees and family feedback was always positive. Looking at the picture days later, a colleague mentioned that my full fish has a bunny-like head. It was good to hear that and laugh together.

THE END

It seems you can never fail at art yet sadly it is much harder to succeed as an artist. Salute to artists like @artycraftyfingers and @rhag.art. Nevertheless, the experience was at once one of creating and of being the fish inelegantly gliding through the splashing water across the canvas of my imagination.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Arty Crafty Fingers (@artycraftyfingers)