Venice-based artist Patrick Marston has been commissioned to paint a mural at the corner of Washington Place and McLaughlin Ave. He has already begun sketching the piece on the wall, and he says the whole process will take about three weeks. The subject will be a couple of luminous fish -- something of a speciality for the artist.

If you go to Marston's WEB SITE (and you should), you'll see that many of his fine art works also take fish as their subject matter, like these incredible pieces:

Wow, right?

Says Marston about his interest in fish: "I am fascinated to repeatedly find the fish as a symbol with a rich history in a multitude of cultures and religions.  The vesica piscis or Vessel of the Fish was the yonic symbol of the Great Mother. The Hindu Matsyendra, Sanskrit for "Lord of the Fishes," was a fish turned human by Siva to disseminate the mysteries of yoga.  In Egypt, Isis became Abtu, the Great Fish of the Abyss.  The Christian fish-sign has been the symbol for Jesus Christ since the Roman empire.  Even in Pacific cultures, fish take on a divine quality.  Also, they exist in water; which in itself represents life force and spiritual purification."

Really deep guy.

I would say, too, that maybe the real subject of these works isn't the fish themselves, but their luminosity -- that spiritual glow, you know.

Marston's done a variety of work, not just fish -- like this commission:

And this one:

You can also check out Patrick's Facebook page "Walk Street 27" to see more of his fine art creations.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll produce. I'll keep you posted on Patrick's progress. And the artist encourages you to come on down to the mural site and say hello. 

Until then, here he is at work on one of his fine art pieces:

And some more of his amazing, glowy fish: