Artist Statement: 

For my 7th sustained investigation,  I decided to zoom in the problem of overfishing, which occurs when fish are harvested faster than they can reproduce, leading to a decline in fish populations, which has serious consequences for marine ecosystems. I chose this theme because currently, in the Gulf of Maine, the cod fish population has plummeted after years of overfishing and environmental changes, so I decided to reflect that in my project my using cod as the main subject of this piece. 

For this project, I began by sketching out my ideas on watercolor paper with pencil. I chose to use gouache so I could blend different shades of blue to look like water. I used black to make the fishing hooks, brown for the cod fish, and green for the kelp. 

For this project, I went through multiple different revisions with the background of the piece. It was difficult at first to blend the colors so they flowed and looked like actual water, and had to restart multiple timed. I fixed this by adding a layer of water over the guache once it dried, and using table salt to get a more bubbly rougher appearance to the water. For the final touch, I decided to experiment with new materials, so I added a small fish hook.