Reviews for Sleeping with the Flying Fish

[Coop]

Reminds me a little of Dali.

I think that I am reminded of the flamboyant Spanish surrealist by the presence of a balloon spouting flame, which is usually the other way around - the hot air balloon receiving a gout of flame, to keep it inflated. The persistent look of shock or perhaps fear on the eye of the balloon is a little disturbing, though I was amused by the birds becoming completely prepared by the roasting that they receive mid-flight. What would have made me even more amused would have been a chef trying to catch them with a butterfly net on the ground below, but that's another story entirely.

I loved the way that the fishy balloon has fins made from what look like scarves, flapping in the wind, as it moves on. The broken tether is a nice touch, as is the couple sleeping, oblivious to the cold air, the blast of heat not far above and generally anything else that is going on around them - such is the power of the subconscious mind.

I loved how the detail is lavishly highlighted in the flame, with the detail that you've given to the wings, as the feathers are just about to catch light - a simple black outline representing all that it needs to be, giving a great, harsh contrast, compared with the rest of the image and the softly blended pastels.

[Review Request Club]

Merol responds:

The look on the balloon's eye looks more like a lost stare to me, as if it is clueless about what's happening. I guess that's pretty cool, that it means something different to everyone (or so).

I like your chef idea, he could have been sitting on the edge of the bed, but I made this for the Emoticon collab on the art forum, and that could have deviated the picture even more from the theme. Mi emoticon is the sleepy one.

Thanks for the review!
By the way, there are no pastels here, just watercolors and a bit of colored pecil.

[TreasurePlanet]

oh wow!!

the focus is really clear in this piece. The repetition of circles within the balloon was a great idea to create a focus.

The opposites in this are really interesting too. Not so much colors (because there's no green.) but in the mood of the colors vs. the sleeping figure. This would be a terrible dream and the fact that they are sleeping through it makes it even more dreamlike.

ALSO I just noticed that there is another figure in the bed. lots of nice detail!

Merol responds:

There is a little of green in one of those streamer things the balloon has! Kinda.

And how comes you missed the sleeping girl? She's not even hidden or anything!

Thank you very much!!

[Kinsei]

before even reading your description I was thinking this was watercolor

I like the over all subject matter. Although kind of strange, it is something that appeals to me as a person.
I especially like the roasting of the birds.

The color and lighting are pretty good too. I would have liked to see some stronger shadows in a couple places like the guy's arm and the bed frame in a couple areas as well.

Although I think you could use some more practice in the medium, I think you have a decent amount of control over it already. You seem to have an excellent grasp of color theory and how to use shades other than gray and black to get a much better sense of shadow. As mentioned there Are a couple of areas I would have liked to see some stronger shadows.

The background, although simple, is good. I really think the watercolor was perfect for this in the simple sense of adding texture and breaking up what would normally be a flat gradient.

This carries the essence of a dream very well. It has that lovely mystical feeling about it that could only come from a dream. A little bit of nonsense and randomness such as the candle lifting the balloon, the fire breathing balloon that looks like a fish and the birds getting roasted by said fire.

Excellent job man. I hope to see more like this in the future.

Merol responds:

Thanks for the review!

I used a bit of colored pencils for some shading, but yeah, it mainly is watercolor.

I also wasn't totally happy with the shadows, they looked good enough to me before I added the background. It (the background) turned out to be a little darker than I was planning, I believe that played against them (the shadows).

That dreamy feeling is the reason why I used watercolors, I always thought watercolor paintings have that dream like thing to them.

Thanks a bunch for the review again!!