Flying Fish

SOLD (75cm x 60cm (30" x 24") Acrylic on Canvas)
Please contact craig@wildlifeartist.co.za for enquiries
© Craig Bertram Smith

The tuna family are fascinating animals. Every square inch, inside and out, tells a story of a predator perfectly adapted to their function. They live a life both of high speed and also endurance. Tuna spend most of their life tracking down prey, often swimming for hundreds of kilometers a day in pursuit. With prey located, the torpedo shaped predators are able to burst at some of the oceans fastest speeds recorded by any fish, giving them the ability to catch any prey, even flying fish! Tuna are able to achieve these amazing feats of speed and endurance because their bodies are perfectly streamlined allowing for minimum resistance. They are so adapted to this life that their eyes are counter-sunk, flush with the skins surface and their pectoral and ventral fins even fit into slots in the skin for minimum water resistance.

These are all features that I wanted to highlight in the painting. I also decided that the yellowfin would be my choice of tuna to be featured showing off colours of an excited fish! Painting the fish out of the water really allowed me to push the boundaries as I could intensify their distinctive yellow markings as well as highlight their magnificent torpedo shape. This was all facilitated by a concept that I have wanted to paint for many years!