drawing flies

On the Road Again

2008-08-03T09:30:00.003-05:00

No not the song, Drawingflies 365 will be in limbo for a week while I attend a Watercolor Workshop. I will be without internet access, but will be doing my daily flies during the evenings and will post them upon my return. It will feel good to concentrate on nothing but watercolor and get some good brush mileage in. I will have pictures when I get back. See you all back here in a week! Thanks for visiting.

Blog Award

2008-08-03T08:56:00.003-05:00

I received this blog award from both Sandy at my fiddlestix Sue at her blog ...from Maine.

According to the rules of acceptance, I am to nominate 7 other blogs. So here they are:

Jared Shear at Terrapeer
Woody Hansen at All Things Watercolor
Nathan Fowkes at Nathan Fowkes Art
Larry Seiler at Painting From Life
Jason Seiler at It's Funny Because it's True
Jame Gurney at Gurney Journey
Eric Tiemens at Virtual Gouacheland

Blogs of Note

2008-08-03T08:35:00.003-05:00

My friend and artist, Rod Crossman has two blogs that are worth spending some time at. They are Painting Stories and Deer Creek Eddy. Also check out his Fireside Sketches video series. If you are an artist or someone interested in art, you definitely need to watch these!

And the winner is....

2008-08-03T07:58:00.002-05:00

The winner for the Month of July's drawings is.... Corey T. I will send you an email with the details for your free print. Congratulations.

No. 207

2008-08-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

"Yellowstone Ranger" From my field sketchbook. When we are on the Yellowstone river, there were zillions of these salmon flies in the air. They were so thick you could cut the air with a knife. If I had tying materials with me I would have tied this baby up as I sketched it. The body on these flies is a bright orange red color with 2 distinct band segments in the thorax. The Cutts were rolling on the surface sucking these babies down. This fly is dedicated to the Yellowstone Park Rangers.

No. 206

2008-07-31T20:50:00.003-05:00

"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

2008-07-31T17:12:00.002-05:00

"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

2008-07-31T16:21:00.003-05:00

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.

No. 204

2008-07-30T07:27:00.003-05:00

"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.

No. 203

2008-07-29T19:36:00.005-05:00

"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

2008-07-29T15:56:00.004-05:00

"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.

No. 201

2008-07-28T15:45:00.004-05:00

"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

2008-07-28T15:29:00.004-05:00

"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

2008-07-28T10:45:00.004-05:00

"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!

2008-07-28T10:43:00.001-05:00

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.

Go West Young Man!

2008-07-16T18:54:00.002-05:00

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!

No. 198

2008-07-15T20:17:00.001-05:00

" The Feather Duster 2" Water and Gouache. This is the final of the Eagles version of the Yellowstone Feather Duster. I hope to be using this fly in the not to distant future. You can check out more information on Yellowstone here!

No. 197

2008-07-14T16:05:00.001-05:00

"Old Skool Flies" Hand sketch and digital color. I made this sticker for the bottom of my son's skateboard.

No. 196

2008-07-13T20:29:00.001-05:00

"Pan fish Slayer" Pen and digital color. This is my buddy Corey's foam spider. Great pattern for bluegills!

No. 195

2008-07-12T21:06:00.001-05:00

"Green Highlander" Quick sketch in pen on bond paper for a soon to be painting.

No. 194

2008-07-11T15:57:00.002-05:00

"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.

No. 193

2008-07-10T15:40:00.008-05:00

Original available - Email me for the details.

"Fin Board" 7" x 11" Acrylic on board. John Bell paints hot rods and other image on pieces wood. I really liked the look of it and thought I would give it a go.

The story of Bill S.

2008-07-10T15:03:00.003-05:00

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".

No. 192

2008-07-09T21:16:00.002-05:00

"Shapes" A quick felt tip pen sketch.

No. 191

2008-07-08T21:40:00.002-05:00

"Snack Fly" Made up of various chips, pretzels and crackers.