Famous the Fish

Welcome to my blog! I'm a painter, art tutor working with people in the special needs community, avid fisherman and a father. I've been painting since I was a child and have really started to take this gift seriously since I moved to Santa Barbara in 2000, when, after a series of events led me to the realization that I could no longer live my life the way I was living it and I needed to go within for my answers. So, I started a  meditation practice and before long I had the overwhelming urge to paint! Every day! So here I am 10 years later, a little wiser and a little grayer! My goal here is to share some of the moments I have as an artist with you through the medium of oil paint. I hope you enjoy the ride, I know I will.

So, Famous the fish is my only pet, he has a great personality and we really enjoy his puppy like enthusiasm. He works part time as a figure painting model, in fact that's how Famous came into my life. A few months ago I showed up to my Masters Class to find a still life set up which consisted of  nothing but a goldfish in a plastic bag, I thought it was an odd thing to paint so I proceeded to work on other projects I had already started. I then found out that Famous was an orphan and brought him home in an ice bucket, he was not doing so well after not being fed anything but breadcrumbs for two days. But after some loving care he is doing just fine in his new home. Oh, how did he get the name "Famous" ? Well, when my teacher went to the pet store to purchase a goldfish for a model, he asked the store clerk if he could return the fish later that day, the clerk asked "why on earth would you want to do that?" And he said "I just want to paint him and make him famous!"

"Famous the Goldfish" 6x6 oil on linen mounted on board (Private Collection) www.steverichardsonfineart.com