LAURA LEVITSKY

Here I found reference to the bone structure of the scutes helped me making sure the shape and sizes were right as they are scaled down the back. A lot of erasing going on here! This painting presented a unique technical challenge since my reference materials were mostly photos of sturgeon outside of the water in a side sling cradle or just top half images while it was measured and tagged in the shallow water. You only have a fleeting moment to get as many pics as you can. I had to take those shapes and then re-imagine it to fit a natural underwater side view. A diffent kind of puzzle.

The final sketch is transferred onto the canvas. I build all my own substrates so that I can make them the custom size I need that fits my compostition.

Rocks on the river bed.....so many rocks! I collected a nice variety of colors from the Fraser River to use for reference.