I am really having a great time painting tropical fish lately and I am thrilled with the way this painting turned out. I typically find gouramis body shapes extremely fun to paint—their appearance is on the quirky side. There are of course considerable variances within the species, which keeps things fresh and motivating. Their thin long ray-like fins stemming from the pectoral area are a really interesting characteristic. For this painting, I really enjoyed working up ideas on how to best capture the spotting found on pearl gouramis. I think the blue circles I painted playfully did the trick. Using a bright yellow for the gourami really stands out against the blue field color.