Mooloolabah fishing boat painting by Alan J. Benge

Fishing boats at anchor form excellent subjects for the marine artist.  It was nearly sunset when I spotted this trawler at the Mooloolabah wharf area on Queensland's Sunshine coast. Ifelt it would look best if I tried out a pen and ink style approach, after establishing a dusky pink background initially.
Red and orange highlight tones were added along with white areas. My aim was to capture the peaceful anchorage at the end of day. I hope you like my original creation.

Moorish Idol fish illustration by Alan J. Benge

If you have ever snorkelled or dived in tropical waters like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, you probably will have seen these marvellous striped inhabitants of the underwater world.  From an artist's point of view, they are fantastic to draw.  In this original acrylic painting, I portrayed the moorish idol on a background of colourful abstract shapes.  Splattered texture was used for effect, along with bold primary colour 'blobs' to represent the incredible beauty of the reef.