"Koi #11" - First Painting in new Studio!

"Koi #11" (pastel, 5x5 inches)  is my first official painting of 2012 and the first one in my new studio! The studio is not completely finished, and is actually quite a mess right now, so no studio photos will be posted until I say so!
This new koi painting will be a new work for 2012 at Cactus Jack's in Gruene, TX, along with a few of my 'dailies' from last year that nobody was lucky enough to bid on.

To give you a peek into my creative process, I've posted below, today's original finished painting "Water Lilly #3" which I painted from a lovely photograph of the flower. It was only after scanning it and seeing it on screen that I realized it desperately needed some koi. And so a few strokes later it became "Koi #11". (above) NOW it's finished!