The Superior (2020) Original Oil Painting by Yuko Montgomery

This original photorealistic oil painting on canvas captures an Arowana in close-up profile, rendered entirely in exacting grayscale — every plate-like scale and whisker-thin barbel built from soft graphite tones fading to near-white highlights, so this black and white fish painting reads like real light moving across wet skin. Set against a deep indigo ground swirling with wave-like currents and scattered gold flecks — a nod to traditional Japanese wave — the piece plays on the Arowana's reputation across Asia as the "dragon fish," a feng shui symbol of wealth, power, and good fortune; several varieties are now endangered, which only adds to the sense of a creature worth honoring on canvas.

Materials used:

Oil

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 45.72 x 38.1 x 2.03cm (unframed) / 46 x 38cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Photorealistic
• Subject: Animals and birds