Last summer, during our holiday to Austria, we visited Schönbrunn Palace. The palace grounds are so large they even house a zoo, which is apparently the oldest zoo in the world!
(They also have a bakery which offers apple strudel demonstrations!)
We spent a long time in the zoo, starting with the aquarium. I loved all the different colours and shapes of the fish and knew I wanted to make some art based on what I'd seen once I got home.
I created this painting in about an hour. I wasn't too concerned with getting all the details exactly right, I just wanted to play around with different materials and show all the colours.
For the background I used watercolours to make it look, well, watery!
I painted the fish using gouache paint as I find the colours are more vibrant than watercolours and it's easier to control. I added some gold acrylic paint which shimmers in the light like the real fishes scales.
I added details and brought out the shadows and highlights using colour pencils.
I love how this turned out and I'm really happy with the slightly messier style and mix of textures.
