Doing a colored lamination on a surfboard is nothing like painting on canvas. Since the primary intent of the resin is to saturate the fiberglass cloth (adding color to it is an extra bonus) whichever color goes down first will saturate the cloth, and essentially lock into place.

There's no "painting over it" which makes the finished product that much more special, especially when there are multiple colors at play. This one is a Pogie fish, laminated by the boys at Waterman's Guild.

For each color you see here, there was a separate cup of tinted resin, and the laminator only had one chance at getting each color down on his fiberglass "canvas" in order to achieve the desired look.  

To make matters even more exciting, once the catalyst is added to the resin, you are working against an invisible clock.  That's because fiberglassing is a chemical reaction, and the catalyst is what makes the mixture "kick" and harden.

An abstract resin lamination, like the one seen below in the photo, is a timed exercise in creativity and precision, with no second-chances.