Beta
I really love to have a beta in my home as seeing it swim gives me peace. Watching as its fins (or skirts as I call them) flow back and forth in the water is quite beautiful to observe. It is the flow of the skirts which inspired me to name each of my beta’s, Silk. They remind me of a silk scarf or the skirt of a dress floating in the breeze. Underwater Silk is the name of my beta drawing.
As I write this story, I am in the company of a beautiful red beta who has been in my life for three years, the longest I have had one. Each morning when I approach his bowl, turn on the light and give him food, he comes out from behind his hiding place and swims up to me right away, saying good-morning. If I place the palm of my hand on the glass he will swim right into the center of my palm and stay there as though giving me a hug.
This is how I choose to see it anyway, if a fish could give a human a hug. The more time I have before leaving for work, the more time he will spend with his nose touching the glass against my hand, or brushing his body against the glass, ignoring his food floating on the water until I pull my hand away.
He always knows when I come into the room and sit on my chair to draw or watch a movie. He comes out to greet me right away and swims against the glass, flaring his fins so I will notice. I get the distinct impression he loves me watching him and therefor makes a beautiful display for my benefit. This makes me think we underestimate our presence in our companions lives, and I realize it is important for me to always include my good friends in my conversation so they know they are special to me. Silk is not just a fish in a bowl, he is a member of my family.
I wanted to draw this fish to challenge myself to duplicate the beauty of the flow of the fins. I chose the pen to bring out the fine detail in the eye and scales on the body. While I don’t think a beta swims in water where coral lives, it was just something I wanted to add to the picture to give it some background dimension. It would not be very interesting to draw them in the mud puddles they normally inhabit, at least not to me.
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