Let’s Paint! Galaxy shrimp

I really don't like to make videos, there is just so much time spent in setting up the camera, then working on getting over the feeling of being watched, then finding my art groove, then editing and cropping it all and finding somewhere online to host it for free, and so on.

There's a dime a dozen artists already showing you their processes. I'll maintain some mystique, and just share photos of the stages along my process of painting. It's far less time consuming, giving me more time to create- which is what the whole thing is about, anyway.

I seem to love all things with bright colors. Cherry shrimp are my latest inspiration. The wiki definition of cherry shrimp aka Neocaridinas.

*Neocaridina davidi is a freshwater shrimp originating from eastern China and northern Taiwan and introduced in the rest of Taiwan, Japan, and Hawaii, which is commonly kept in aquaria. The natural coloration of the shrimp is green-brown. There are a wide range of colors including red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet, black, etc. *

Once you get past all the standard ones found in the hobby, you find the fancier/bolder designed shrimp. When I saw the Blue Boa Galaxy Shrimp, I needed to paint it asap.

Google image: Blue Boa Galaxy shrimp

Image heavy! Photo process of painting the Galaxy Shrimp.

The very beginning. You can see the canvas is a bit dented. It just needed some water and ample dry time to work those out.

Working in cloud cover over the base color. One remaining canvas dent is very obvious in this pic.

Shrimp body time

Can't forget the planets and creating a composition for shrimp to stand out in. Also notice that the canvas dents have straightened themselves out.

Ehhh the planet colors need some more…something. I'll change them once I figure it out.

Added in the stars, more spots for the blue once the white dries, and yellow- gold flecks to match what I see in the Google photo.

And finished. The planets got a little extra oomph

I really had a blast working on this one. Expect more galaxy themed art down the road for sure.

If you have a spray bottle, use that to spritz a little water on the back of your canvas.. If no spray bottle, just drip a couple drops of water, onto the back of your canvas, and smooth the water into the canvas threads with your fingers. Then Let it dry. You'll see th canvas tighten back up. For really deep dents, repeat this process multiple times over a few days. Giving the canvas enough time to dry out in between/no mold creation.

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Painting through insecurity