"Mount Fly More" Flat Fly makes a stop at Mt. Rushmore. We were there later in the day, which is a bad time to photograph the monument. I think there is room to carve a fly up there!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
No. 206
"Mount Fly More" Flat Fly makes a stop at Mt. Rushmore. We were there later in the day, which is a bad time to photograph the monument. I think there is room to carve a fly up there!
No. 205
"Flat Fly at Yellowstone Lake" Took the flat for for a visit to Yellowstone while the kids took a dip in the 60 degree water.
Guy From Fly Fish Yellowstone
I had the privilege to meet Guy from Fly Fish Yellowstone during our stay in Yellowstone. He runs a great blog with everything you need to know about Yellowstone. If you have not checked it click on here to do so. If you are ever in West Yellowstone, be sure to look him up. He is a great person to know. Here we are holding the original of the Famous Eagle Feather Duster fly.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
No. 204
"Buffalo Chip Fly" Pocket knife and buffalo chip. For those of you who have not visited Yellowstone, the buffalo roam free everywhere in the park. This chip was a bit dry. I would have preferred one a bit fresher. But hey, you have to work with what you have during a flash of inspiration.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
No. 203
"Grizzly Wulff" Watercolor and gouache. Picked up a six pack of some local brew. Tasted great! The Grizzly Wulff on the label has a gray body, which I believe is technically a "Gray Wulff" I decided to do a yellow body like the original pattern.
No. 202
"Pine Tree Parachute" Bits of found materials assembled to make a fly while visiting Yellowstone.
My wife suggested that a picture be taken of me at work on a fly, so here it is.
Monday, July 28, 2008
No. 201
"Sand Fly" Drawing in the rich dark brown sand at the beach on Yellowstone Lake.
Look out - here comes a wave!
I forgot to sign it.
No. 200
"Flat Fly" WOW I cannot believe it is 200 already. This fly is a take off of the Flat Stanley that my kids did in school. The idea behind flat Stanley is that the kids made this guy- Flat Stanley out of construction paper. They then gave flat Stanley to someone to take on their travels. I think my kids gave their Stanley to my Brother in Law who took it to China. The recipient of Stanley was to photograph Stanley at their destination and send it back to the kid who gave them the Stanley. This flat fly was a Royal Wulff painted with watercolor and gouache. Here it is shot by Fishing Bridge which is the Cutthroat spawning ground for the Yellowstone River. You will see Flat Fly again in other installments.
No. 199
"Floatsam Fly" Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high elevation lakes in the US. Spectacular views and it feeds the Yellowstone River. This fly was constructed from bits of drift wood that floated ashore.
Drawing Flies 365 is Back!
We just got back from out family trip to Yellowstone National Park. What an amazing place! If you have never been there, you should consider it as one of the top 10 places to visit while you are living on this planet.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Go West Young Man!
Drawing Flies 365 will be without internet access until July 27th. I just packed up my brushes and paints so that I can continue my daily flies. Upon my return, there will be a huge amount of flies to scan and post. See everyone back here on the 28th!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
No. 197
"Old Skool Flies" Hand sketch and digital color. I made this sticker for the bottom of my son's skateboard.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
No. 196
"Pan fish Slayer" Pen and digital color. This is my buddy Corey's foam spider. Great pattern for bluegills!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
No. 194
"49 Merc - Preliminary sketch" Felt tip pen - marker. This is a preliminary sketch that was inspired by Ronn Lucas Sr. There is special meaning to this fly which will be revealed with the final painting. This was just a quick sketch to get a feel for the proportions that I want the fly to have. Stay tuned for the final.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The story of Bill S.
You may remember this fly (no. 138). It was suggested by Ed E. from Minnesota. Here is the story behind this fly:
A few years ago someone played a small joke on a friend of mine. His name is Bill S. and his favorite fly is the March Brown. The joke was a March Brown tied backwards on the hook. The fly was handed to Bill one evening at a meeting of the (sadly, now defunct) Minnesota Fly Fishers. He was asked to identify the fly and any unique characteristics about it.
Bill took the task seriously and looked it over pretty carefully in the poor light of the restaurant back room where we held our club meetings and concluded it was a well-tied March Brown. It did, however, take him several minutes before he noticed that it was indeed tied on the hook backwards, hackle at the bend (no easy feat for a tyer), and the tail coming off the eye.
And here is one more story from Ed:
Serendipity
I learned to tie flies several years ago and I’ve always enjoyed it, though I haven’t done nearly enough. The natural extension of this sort of behavior of course is that you start playing around with new designs.
In fact, most folks will tell you that this is a major draw to fly tying in the first place – the chance to create your own fly and catch fish with it.
So this is what I did a few years back. Based upon the brassie concept, I simply put a brass bead on a hook, wrapped some tin weight behind it, and covered the whole mess with some bright red floss. I tied in a bit of black dubbing right behind the bead and thought the result might be part stimulator pattern and part caddis emerger. I’d never seen anything like it, so when I started catching fish with it, my daughter and I dubbed it “Ed’s Special” kind of like Lefty’s Deceiver or the Troth Caddis. I didn’t noise the naming part around too much though. It was mostly a private thing between father and daughter.
Well, it turns out I spent one of the most enjoyable half hours I’ve ever spent on a trout stream, fishing to a small pod of fish with that fly. They were in a tiny hole on the Rush River, no bigger than my kitchen. Of course I was backed up to high and heavy brush and had to stand so close to the fish that I couldn’t hide. I could see them everywhere and miraculously, they didn’t spook. I could have stood there all day long, watching them take nymphs and fight for position.
I threw that Special to the head of the pool and took fish on every third or fourth cast for quite a while. Some were small – seven or eight inches – but one or two were in the 12” to 15” range. I watched every one I caught turn on its side and take my fly. MY FLY! I’d invented it, I’d tied it, I fished it, and the fish ate it! Surely no greater thing could happen to a fly fisherman.
So with a mixture of pride and modesty, I presented a few to Bill Skinner one morning as we headed out. He took one look and said, “Nice flies. Serendipities. Thanks.”
My ego hasn’t fully recovered to this day.
You can check out more from Ed at his blog "The Lone Fisherman Diaries".
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
No. 190
"Golden Gobstopper" A quick sketch to explore the character of this fly. It will be the subject of a full painting soon.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
No. 188
" Bead Head Nymph 2" I have not given more attention to the lowly nymph as of late. So here is to the bead head nymph!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
No. 185
"Feather Duster Study" This is a quick form and color study in watercolor of the famous Yellowstone "Feather Duster" created by the Eagles.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
No 184
"Digital Collage" I created the line drawing for this fly, then I created paths and cut out digital textures and modified the colors. I will continue to experiment with this technique.
