We don’t often blog about art but there is no denying the presence of wildly talented artists right here in our hobby. Karen Talbot is well known for her meticulous and incredible paintings, while Christ Turnier for his whimsical wood carvings. The beauty of the ocean and our reefs can be captured and enjoyed in a plethora of platforms, from digital photography to a home aquarium. To say that the ocean had no to little inspiring contributions to modern or even classic artists would be a lie. Yusei Nagashima from Japan is a watercolour artist with immense talent, and his work centres mainly around fish – both oceanic, reef and freshwater.
I’ve always been fascinated with watercolour art, and as a student in art class I have tried and failed at it. It takes a certain level of skill and attention to detail to be able to capture the subject in a wispy almost seductive manner. There is a very familiar and comforting feeling when looking at Yusei’s pieces. Perhaps its the soft zen like effect that translates to many olden styles of Japanese or asian paintings. Water colour art is soothing and pastel, dynamic yet controlled and very peaceful to look at.
If you are a huge fan of both fish and watercolour art, or art in general, check out Yusei Nagashima’s blog. Although the website is in Japanese, it is easy to navigate and every page is filled with beautiful watercolour paintings spanning a wide variety of fish subjects. I for one especially like the Plectranthias series he painted, and there are more of such pieces in his website. A hyper link has been added above, or you can just click the link below to view Mr. Nagashima’s work.
