Idea to Image: Love Under the Sea

Love Under the Sea, 16 x 20", acrylic on canvas.  This painting developed slowly; it began as a demonstration for my intermediate painting class.  My studio process for a new painting begins with my sketchbook.  Images are then laid out to scale on paper and transferred to canvas.  The plant life was added in around the fish as I painted the image.  I worked on this piece simultaneously with another painting, Family Portrait, prepared for my exhibition during the On and Off Fredericksburg Studio Tour this past February.