Meet Fukai, the Other Purple Octopus

When I start a new painting, I always begin with two copies, just in case one of them doesn’t turn out well. Sometimes this means I end up with two great art pieces!

For this purple octopus, I made it smaller on the page because the first one took up the whole canvas. I also tried to make sure the purple paint didn’t bleed into the surroundings so much. And, I used a different paper texture and size. This one was cold press (bumpy paper, right) while the other was hot press (smooth surface, left).

I did the first step of the two paintings side by side. As this second one was drying (right), I realized that the background was extremely compelling on its own. I knew that I needed to make this octopus exceptionally intriguing to compete with how incredible the background had turned out.

So, I started on the other purple octopus’s body first (below), which helped me know what to do (and what not to do) when it came to this one. That turned out to be a wise choice, because on the first octopus, I used gouache for the light parts of the tentacles. The problem with gouache is that the texture is different from watercolor, and the two textures are not always compatible. So, I chose not to use gouache on this painting.

The first purple octopus, Atamaga?, watercolor 12×16:

I also purposely chose not to define all of the tentacles. I let the ones in the background remain more fuzzy, giving the effect of depth. I feel that this one is so much more dramatic than the other one.

I am very happy with both purple octopuses, but this one is my favorite of the two.

Fukai means “deep” in Japanese.

See how it was made and how it sparkles here.

What color should I paint an octopus next?