So she’s finished.

What an experience. The last time I painted something this size was about 4 years ago… and I can still remember the transition from clammy, shaking hands as I made the first brushstroke onto the chalked-up canvas… right through to the point where I was squinting shut with one eye, like a ‘proper’ painter might… tilting back on the heel of my foot before zeroing in to daub a more confident stroke of colour.

I have got a thing about fish, it’s true. But this is perhaps the largest and most ambitious of visual mouthfuls I’ve ever taken on.

This is Brenda the Blue Fin. Endangered now, but many years ago I can remember enjoying my first ever taste of such a fish.

It was served raw, sliced finely by a sashimi chef (no kidding) on a Japanese schooner that had moored up alongside the boat I was crewing.

I was 21 and had wangled myself onto a yacht to take part in a race, and we’d all just arrived in St Lucia. Having sailed over 4000 nm and in a high state of boat fever we couldn’t wait to spill off and at least put a little space between us all. We looked like a small, straggled squabble of seagulls as we wobbled off and wibbled our way to customs and immigration, and a quiet beer.

By sunset, we’d all showered, regained a sense of feeling more ‘human’, and had received an invitation to board the Japanese schooner and celebrate the race fleet’s arrival.

I shall never forget that first bite of bluefin and the genuine high it delivered from eating such pure, unadulterated protein. Unexpected and very surreal.

I’ve wanted to portray this extraordinary fish ever since. I just didn’t want to represent it as something edible… I needed to make it the hunter, rather than the hunted.

 

At 48 x 30 inches, her sea of canvas lends her ‘just’ enough space to make a game of chasing her moving lunch of anchovies as they slip through her inky black ocean. Their tails are a snout’s nudge away, but given her innate ability to reach speeds of up to 43 mph they don’t stand much of a chance… At least it’ll be relatively quick, a mere gulp in time!

I’ve absolutely adored painting her, and her fleet of food! So many hues and textures… completely in love with her armour-like patina… the Boudicea of the sea.

Time to clean the brushes, and my hands, elbows and the remaining smudges of oil paint from my face, and celebrate with a cup of tea, and perhaps some anchovies on toast…

Huge thanks must go to you all, for your boundless enthusiasm and words of encouragement. They make a world of difference to what I do.

Happy happy Friday to you all!

 

 

p.s. She is for sale, so do get in touch if you’d like to know more.