Lets start at the beginning...
I was in Granada, Nicaragua fishing in the lake with my father. Whenever I go fishing with my dad, we are always having a friendly competition of who catches the most and the biggest fish. What normally happens is that I always win in salt water and he always wins in fresh water.
This day my father hooked a big bass - I was impressed and it compelled me to get something even bigger! So I put a bigger lure (bigger lure = bigger fish, right!?)
Well, that wasn't the case... this little guy came along and tried to eat the lure that was the same size as him! We couldn't stop laughing as this is always how it works out for me in fresh water.
He was so cute, I decided to keep it to make this cichlid school painting. It was also a treat for my cat!
This painting is one of my favorites.. it is 21 prints all together, a part of me was almost hoping it didn't sell because I love it so much, I wanted it for my own private collection. It was also the first school of fish that I painted.
Fast forward to March, 2023 - we are at the Sunday Market in Playas Del Coco with our booth set up, and along comes a nice girl named Ilana with such an amazing positive vibe. She bee-lined it straight for our booth and was already familiar with the art of gyotaku. She instantly was drawn the cichlid school painting that we had a photo of in our binder. After much thought, she left and then returned saying that she couldn't stop thinking about it and that she wanted it. We are so happy that it has gone home to Brooklyn, New York with Ilana, such a nice spirit who truly appreciates the art!
Comments