Thank you Brian
as to how long... you know, I really prefer not having deadlines - if someone said do this in a week I'd really struggle, as this is not something you can do 8 hours a day, the creative stamina is a different thing all together - there is not one piece in that that has been automatically or just mechanically put down or cut, there is so much in there. Kilty was the perfect customer, he knew I had to go and look after my Mum, he paid 50% up front no problem to show his commitment, I showed him progress photos, so he knew it was happening. And when I realized that the line beween the darker top and lighter bottom half of the fish had gone slightly too high, I took it all off again and started again. I just finished the background today, but have been working on a charity piece, too, this is my favoured kind of working, nip in and out of the studio, often work in the evening.. and I forgot to make a note of the hours. Also I used the double reverse method on this fish, which I really like it, and gave it a sculpted body, all issues which change with every project. To be able to work at an artistically comfortable speed I'd say three weeks would be plenty, but to have a patient customer like Kilty who understands that this kind of results is better achieved slowly was wonderful. Not knowing much about fish I really researched other pictures, too, how they look when wet, what kind of underwater landscape they live in, what the fins look like in the water - as on the photo they were out of the water and flat, and I wanted to make him look alive! Also it took me a while to find materials I had never used not thought of before, like the copper rods in the fins etc, all that takes time. If I had to do a fish again now I would be faster, as I know more about these things now.
Phew.. does that answer your question? :lol: