Having traced in your design very carefully, mix one part of neutral gray with two parts of sky-blue, some clove oil, and turpentine; with this paint the upper edge of the back of the fish dark, graduating to white along near the centre of the fish; stipple this so that it will look even, soft, and rounding, keeping it dark on the edge and tinting down to the white china; paint the tail and dorsal fins a flat tint of gray No. 2 mixed with fat oil and turpentine; then mix carnation No. 2 with fat oil and turpentine for a flat tint on gills, mouth, and ventral fin; shade the mouth with the same color and paint the anal and pectoral fins a flat tint of carnation No. 2 mixed with sepia; when dry shade with the same color, and also shade the gills and fins painted carnation with carnation, and the dorsal fins and tail shade with ivory-black mixed with fat oil and turpentine; try the paint with your brush until you get rather a gray tint instead of black, and use this for the shading; now paint the rows of spots along the back of the fish ivory-black, making the dots smaller as they approach the tail; and with your eraser take the paint off of the eye, leaving a clean white spot of china; paint a fine circle around this in ivory-black; then paint a portion of the eye black, leaving the white china for the high lights; in painting the scales and lower part of the fish use gray No. 1 as it comes from the tube, mark an outline of gray along the lower edge of the fish and stipple it off in the white, remembering this gray must occupy only a narrow line along the lower edge of the fish. [Illustration: _Fig. 186_] [Illustration: _Fig. 187_]