Two herrings on a white plate

In this exercise I used watercolour pencils (but no water) to try and capture the silvery lustre of two herrings lying on a white plate under a fairly strong anglepoise lamp.

In reflection, it would have been more interesting if I'd bought three fish and if I'd been able to lay my hands on a patterned plate. That would have allowed me to use more colours.

I also worried at first that the fish were mainly silver, black and a bit of red. I decided to use some blue to convey the "silverniness" of the fish, and I think that has worked fairly well (better, anyway, than multiple shades of grey).

I think I might try adding water to spread the colours and to get deeper blocks of colour. I've not done it yet, as I was worried about ruining the picture irretrievably.