So this is my latest piece; a new gyotaku ("fish rubbing") based painting of a sailfish caught just off Key Biscayne, FL. This is the first sailfish I've ever killed, but based on the health of the fish once we grabbed the leader, it wasn't going to make it if released. I'm not down with flippantly harvesting fish, so it seemed only fitting to honor this catch with a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
I started the painting by printing various sections of the fish right after we got back to the dock, using an oil-based pigment. I cleaned all the slime off the fish, quickly brushed ink onto it, and laid various different sheets of paper on top to lift off some mirror-image impressions. There were over 20 prints in all, on scraps of handmade papers I'd brought along on the trip ranging from mulberry to mango fibers. Once finished, the prints cured in studio for several weeks before I picked the ones I liked the best and arranged in fragmented fashion on a hardwood panel. The painting was finished in light washes of oil color that match the cool tones I used for the original printing process, and I framed it using reclaimed pallet wood. The whole thing is 72" X 48", and I'm super stoked about the finished result. You can find some reproductions of this piece on the 2016 lineup of YOLO stand-up paddleboards. See yoloboard.com if interested.
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