No. 120

"Thumb Fly" I drew this fly on my thumb dressing with my left hand. I then added a little gouache to it to give it a bit of color.

No. 119

Limited edition prints available - email me for more information.

"Digi-Grace" Digital rendering in Photoshop.

No. 118

" Egg Laying Stone" Went to the ER on Sunday. They took X-rays and nothing was broken or chipped. The Doc said that I have a Subungual Hematoma. The pain is from the pressure of the blood building up under the nail. He took a cautery tool and burned some holes in my nail to let the blood out. Instant relief! It is still real ugly and bruised, but the pain is now minimal. Still interesting drawing with a taped up thumb. The flies will get better as it heals (good excuse!)

No. 117

"Swollen Sculpin" If feels like someone transplanted my heart into my thumb! It has swollen to twice it's normal size. I did not sleep at all on Saturday night. I think that when I get back home, it is time to hit the ER. It is real difficult to draw when you do not have 100% use of your thumb. Quite an interesting challenge.

No. 116

"Thumb Smasher" 6" x 6" Well I made a big mistake Saturday morning at the camp out. My thumb decided to act as a stop on the LP tank cage. The result was a smashed right thumb. I have hit my thumb with a hammer before. This beats a hammer whack, hands down. This was barely scratched out in pencil. The throbbing was so intense, that I had to stop. I lined it in with a Sharpie on Monday.

No. 115

"Little Bite" 8" x 10" I left on Friday for a Boy Scout camp out over the weekend. After we set up (which was late) and the boys hit the sleeping bags, I drew this up with using my sharpie with my headlamp on in my sleeping bag.

Notice

I will be without internet access until Monday. Never fear, flies will be drawn daily, but will not be posted until Monday. Thanks for dropping by!

No. 114

"Kermit the Prawn" 6" x 6" A quickie done with graphite, watercolor and gouache.

" Oatman Brookie" 10" x 14" watercolor and gouache. As far as I am concerned, Chris is the no. 1 authority on streamers. You can check out his site here. Chris, this one is for you.

No. 113

"The Carrot" 6" x 6" Sharpie marker and gouache.

No. 112

"Dust Off 2" 8" x 8" watercolor and gouache. A follow up to yesterdays fly. Some of these new techniques I need to try a couple of times to get the hang of it. Plus, you never know what the blobs of paint will look like once you hit it with the air.

No. 111

"Dust Off" 8" x 8" Watercolor and gouache. This was an interesting experiment that I know I will do more of. Basically I took some watercolor and placed a blob on the paper. I tried blowing the blob with a straw to try to get a feathery looking mass. The straw did not work, so I used a can of compressed air that is used to clean computers. This worked great! I was able to slightly control the shape, but at the same time end up something totally spontaneous. I added the details and there you have it. You can see a couple of quick sequence shots below.

No. 110

"Thunder & Lightning" 10"x12" gouache. This is a Scandinavian tube fly suggested by Lars Chr. Bentsen from Denmark. I did not add the junction tube and hook because I was not sure how it would look. May bey I will add it digitally and make a decision from there. Tube flies are great to tie and to fish with.

No. 109

"Graphite Wet" 5" x 7" Graphite on tan laid paper.

No. 108

"Irish Dry" 8.5" x 11" Blogger had problems last night and I was unable to load this latest fly. Technology is sometimes a double edged sword. This is a more abstract painting than I have done in the past. I painted this with gouache on chip board. I received a bunch of traditional Irish flies from Marty Howard. They are amazing in their proportion and the fine wire hook that was used. Thanks to Marty for the awesome samples!

No. 107

Original Available - email me for details.

Limited edition prints available soon - email me for more information.

"Spey on Cork" 12" x 18" Charcoal and white gouache on grey laid paper. I had the opportunity to go see the Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper exhibits at the Art Institute in Chicago over the weekend. I would have rather been steelhead fishing, but the rivers are still blown out. Both exhibits were fantastic. Homers charcoal and white watercolor sketches were the inspiration for this sketch. If you are not familiar with Homer click here for more information.

No. 106

"Stencil Dry" My oldest son Ryan has been to making his own stencils and decorating the walls of his room I though it would be a cool idea to make a stencil fly. I drew the image on an old file folder and cut the image out with a razor knife. This was fun! I am sure you will see more of these. I stenciled the cover of my sketch book pad.

No. 105

Original - SOLD

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"The Professor" 10" x 14" Watercolor and Gouache. This fly was created for the NIFT (Northern Illinois Fly Tyers) annual auction. The Professor was created in 1830 by John Wilson of Edinburgh Scotland. It is reported that John (aka Christopher North) overcame a shortage of flies one day by attaching the pedals of a buttercup on a hook along with a blade or two of grass as wings.

No. 104

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Fur, Flash and Feathers" 10" x 14" I had the opportunity to hook back up with Brad Bohen, otherwise known as the Afton Angler over at One More Cast fly shop. Brad demonstrated and provided a tie along for some of his never fail muskie patterns. For those who do not know Brad, he is one great down to earth guy. Definitely someone you want to take you out on a guided trip. Not to mention that he ties some awesome muskie patterns. It was a laid back evening of food, tying, BSing and some beer. What a great combo for a rainy early Spring evening. If you get a chance, also check out some of Joseph's great stories here. I do not know why these storeis have not been published! I think at the end of the evening the tying sequence was beer, flash and feathers! A tip of the hat to Joseph and Brad for a fantastic evening!

No.103

Original - Available - email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Wax Resist Dry" 5" x 8" For this one I put down a light yellow orange wash. Once it was dried, I drew in the fly using a wax crayon. The tough part is you cannot see what you are drawing. I then overlaid a dark wash which showed were I drew with the crayon. A bit of touchup and there you have it.

No. 102

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Original- SOLD

"Jack-O-Lantern Spey" 11" x 14" Watercolor and gouache. This is for Rick up in Milwaukee. The Spring steelhead season here is going to be short due to heavy rains. A look at the last flow suggests building an ark and white water rafting down the river.

No. 101

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"All Time Favorite" 8" x 11" Charcoal on Lenox 100 Paper. I would be remiss if I did not round out the silhouette series with a nymph. I think I will frame all of these and put them on the wall! This is my all time favorite go to nymph. If I could only have one nymph in my fly box, it would be this one. Can you guess what it is?

No. 100

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Blue Dun" 8" x 11" Charcoal on Lenox 100 paper. This is another silhouette of a classic dry. A series of these flies framed would look great on the wall! I also realized that there only 265 more flies to draw! Time sure passes when you are having fun.

Hand Colored Originals - Now Available!

I am producing only 8 hand colored linocut originals. Each one is a unique, one of a kind collectible piece of art! To order yours today, click here.

No. 99

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Chief Needahbeh" 8" x 11" Charcoal on Lenox 100 paper. Do you remember creating silhouettes in grade school? This fly has some great colors to it, but I was drawn to the shape. So I thought I would create just a silhouette. I remember many years back, visiting a client and on their wall they had these beautiful silhouettes of WWII aircraft. All done in charcoal

No. 98

I added some watercolor to the second pressing today. I think I prefer the black and white look. Let me know what you think.

No. 97

This is the first in a 2 part series. I had worked on a linocut a while back in my sketching blog. You can see the results here. I was reminded of this this technique while visiting blueanglers blog. So you can see the final result and an animation of the progress. The first pull impression is the result. I will make some adjustments then press the finals and add some watercolor. You will see the results on Monday. The wet fly is the Montreal dark.

No. 96

It was an absolutely beautiful day here in the Midwest. The temperature reached 62 degrees and the sun was out all day! Although I did yard work all day (that is because our steelhead river is still blown out) it was great to be out. My kids are too old for sidewalk chalk, so I borrowed some from the neighbor girls.

No. 95

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Bead Head Nymph" 6" x 6" Watercolor and Gouache.

No. 94

"iFly" - Photoshop Chop Job - I was trying to think of something different to do for todays fly and low and behold the idea came in the form of an email from my friend Eric S. Call it karma or a coincidence, but when these little gems fall in my lap, I have to act upon it. Eric has been helping me with a project over the past few weeks and he is an avid visitor to this blog. The iFly was Eric's suggestion, all I did was create the visual. Thanks Eric and I will be using some of your other ideas in the future. It is really great to see that this little corner of the blogosphere has people thinking in different and creative ways.

No. 93

Original - Available send email for details.

Limited Edition Prints - Available soon

"Royal Coachman" 10" x 12" Gouache on Canson paper. I know I have done quite a few of these in succession, but I have been having fun with this style. I finished this painting, stepped back and realized the pheasant tippet tail was a bit small and understated. I went back (which I try not to do) and made it a bit longer. In doing so, I over did it. One should never complain about too much tail, but in this instance, I will.

And the envelope please...

The winner for the March drawing is......M Lenetsky. I have sent you an email with the details. Congratulations and keep the suggestions coming! I still have 273 flies to go!

No.92

Original - Sold

Purchase Limited Edition Prints Here.

"Black Ghost" 8"x 10" Gouache on Canson paper.