During the pandemic years, I started a jigsaw puzzle company and manufactured six titles, each of which started life as one of my paintings. The puzzles were beautiful and I enjoyed almost all of the process, but the marketing was a lot of work and I missed having time to paint. I closed the company in 2022, but I had painted this image when I thought I might do a second round of manufacturing with six new titles. I thought a sushi painting would make a fun puzzle. I actually had not eaten much sushi in my life, so when I decided to do this painting, we had our daughter take us to a sushi restaurant and help us order. We asked the waitress to bring us her prettiest cocktails and dishes, and she really got into it! She'd bring by other peoples' dinners and ask if I thought THEIR dishes would work in the painting. "Swim with the Fishes" was a group effort!