Fish On A Leash
2008 - 11"x11.75" Acrylic, colored pencil, oil pastel, charcoal, paper collage, on wood.
Finished with one coat brush on Liquitex Matte Varnish #5232
(Private Collection - New York)

January 2008

This painting began as a horse (see photo below). I didn't like it and started over. The painting had no direction until I flipped it 180 degrees. You can see this in the 2nd and 3rd photos from the right. I initially saw what looked like a man figure in black, on the left side, and tried to develop that. I didn't like it, especially since it looked too Basquiat. In the far right photo you can see the image of the boy and the fish already there, but I hadn't recognized it yet.

I drew in the left eye, not knowing it was an eye, and then saw the image and drew in the right eye and body. I had recently finished a skateboard deck that used an African art theme, so I carried that over when drawing the boy. The inspiration originated from an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum called Eternal Ancestors.

I thought the painting was complete, until I saw a paper collage that one of my wife's former preschool students sent her. It was a collage of a boy with a fish on a leash. I really liked it, and realized the similarity with my painting that had a boy and a fish. The final addition to the painting was drawing a line between the boy's right hand and the fish to represent the leash.

Here are some photos of the painting in development.