Drawing Fish 52-36 Tiger Fish

Original status: Available, email me for details.

Swing by Jason's blog to see his see his Tiger Fish!

Tech Info- Watercolor, Gouache on oatmeal paper.

This past weekend my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We spent a long weekend in Santa Fe New Mexico and had a wonderful time ( I will post pictures on my Facebook page). I had so much fun that I sent an email to Jason inquiring which fish we would be doing this week. In his reply he stated it was my pick. I have been so busy between the Artist in residence program in Alaska and our anniversary trip that my weeks were all mixed up. Jason suggested we go with a Tiger Fish, so I obliged, so thanks to Jason for keeping me in line and coming up with this weeks suggestion. As for this fish, it called for bright withe teeth and blood red paint!

Drawing Fish 52-35 Brown Trout

Original status: SOLD

Swing by Jason's blog to see his see his Brown Trout!

Tech Info- Watercolor, Gouache on oatmeal paper.

So we decided this week to do a generic brown trout. Sometimes some real gems come in small packages! This image is a drift less area Wisconsin brown held by my best fishing buddy Corey. I am actually working on a full color painting of this sketch. Beauty can sometimes serve in the smallest of packages and experiences. Fishing the drift less area with Corey is someting that I will carry with me forever.

Drawing Fish 52-34 Silver Salmon

Original status: Available, email me for details.

Swing by Jason's blog to see his see his Silver Salmon!

Tech Info- Watercolor, Gouache and Pastel on 140 LBS watercolor paper.

Continuing with my Alaska theme, I decided to go with the fresh from the ocean version instead of the spawned up color version. We were fortunate enough during our trip to use the spey rods and swing for these on fire fish fresh in from the Bering Sea. The fish were so fresh and full of fight that they even still had sea lice on them.

Drawing Fish 52-33 Rio Grande Cutthroat

Original status: SOLD, Prints are available, email me for details.

Swing by Jason's blog to see his Rio Cutt rendition!

Tech Info- Watercolor, Gouache and Pastel on 140 LBS watercolor paper.

Went a bit looser with one. I will post some of progression pictures over the weekend. More later.

Used my new pad of extreme landscape format 12" x 24" watercolor pad.

Drawing Fish 52-32 Dolly Varden

Drawing Fish 52_32 Dolly Varden

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his Dolly Varden rendition!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor and gouache and pastel on oatmeal paper.

I do not know where to start. I just returned from one of the most memorable fishing trips to date. I was privileged to spend a week as an artist in residence at Bristol Bay Lodge in Alaska. None of this would have been possible without the extreme generosity of the lodge and Bob White for making it happen. I will save the details of this trip for a different post.

This image is a portrait of a beautiful male Dolly that I caught while swinging a Morrish mouse pattern on my trip. Nothing like seeing a nice fish take a skating mouse! The colors of these fish are incredible. I exaggerated the colors a bit to drive this point home. The river that I caught this fish in was also filled with a turquoise-green rock that nearly matched the color of the fish.

I will have more images to post this weekend from this amazing trip! (you can see a few of the photos of the trip in my previous post).

Artist in Residence Week at Bristol Bay Lodge

More to come later!

Back From Bristol bay Lodge Alaska

I just returned from the Artist-In-Residence week at Bristol bay Lodge. What an incredible experience! There will be a separate post on this in the upcoming week. Special thanks go out to Bob White for putting together this great event and to Steve Laurent and the entire staff at Bristol Bay Lodge. I will be re adjusting to everyday life this week, and will start posting pictures, once I have had a chance to go through them. Drawing Fish 52, will resume this Thursday so stay tuned!

Drawing Fish 52-31 Chum Salmon

Drawing Fish 52_31 Chum Salmon

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his Chum Salmon rendition!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor and gouache on oatmeal paper.

The Chum "aka Dog" Salmon has one set of teeth and spawning colors that deserve to be painted.

Drawing Fish 52 will be on hold for next week and will resume the following week with a bunch of great images.

Drawing Fish 52_30 Golden Trout

Drawing Fish 52_30 Golden Trout

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his Golden Trout rendition!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor and gouache on oatmeal paper.

More info later! Stay tuned.

Drawing Fish 52_29 Muskie

Drawing Fish 52_29 Muskie

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his Muskie rendition!

Tech Info- Sharpie, white pastel pencil and gray marker on oatmeal paper.

I had a number of concepts on how to approach an image of the big bad north woods muskie! I settled on this foreshortened image and added the extra teeth hanging out for impact!

Drawing Fish 52_28 Stripped Bass

Drawing Fish 52_28 Stripped Bass

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his rendition of the Stripped Bass!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor, gouache and pastel

Back home now and back to painting in the studio. Sketched this one out in Sharpie on 140 lbs watercolor paper. Quick washes with watercolor for value and tone, then details with gouache and pastel. I started mess with it too much at the end. I know I should leave well enough alone!

Drawing Fish 52-27 Sockeye Salmon

Drawing Fish 52_27 Sockeye Salmon

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his rendition of the sockeye!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor and gouache

I spent the week of this post at a church group work camp with my son in Rochester New York. Youth came from all over the country to work in smaller groups on homes in the inner city of Rochester. My crew was assigned a painting job for the first few days, then we were reassigned to a wheel chair ramp construction site. It was an extremely rewarding experience for both the youth and the adult leaders. I was able to squeak this image in during the few minutes of downtime we had in the evening.

Drawing Fish 52_26 Smallmouth (Bronzeback) Bass

Drawing Fish 52_26 Smallmouth (Bronzeback) Bass

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his rendition of the bronzeback!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor, gouache and pastel

I really dig fishing for these beauties in my home waters of the Fox River! Either by swing a Ralphies Minnow with the 6 weight or under a float when the water is high is always a good time.

Best in Show

I exhibited at the annual Art On The Fox Festival over Father's Day weekend. I was honored with a First Place Best In Show Ribbon! Totally unexpected.

To read more about the event, click here and here.

Be sure to check out the photos from the event.

Atightloop Magazine

Swing by Atightloop .com to check out the premier issue of this new Midwest Fly-fishing oriented e-zine. Stuart and Kurt have put together a great issue and look to expand the offerings on upcoming issues.

I am honored to have been interviewed for the premier issue. Swing by Page 63 to read the interview and click on the link to watch the interview at the end of the article.

Be sure to sign up and subscribe to future issues.

Drawing Fish 52_25 Yellowstone Cutthroat

Drawing Fish 52_25 Yellowstone Cutthroat

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his rendition of a Yellowstone Cutthroat!

Tech Info- Sharpie, watercolor, gouache and pastel

This is a memorable fish for me. In 2008 we packed up the family and the camper and headed to Yellowstone. After a bit of sight seeing, we decided to do a bit of fishing in the Yellowstone river. I had the family all spread out at the Nez Pierce access. I looked across the river and I could see fish constantly rising. The river was a bit high and I had a short deep section that I had to navigate. I felt confident with all of the steelhead wading I have done in the past. It was a tough slow wade, but it was worth it. I found a gravel shoal up stream of the rising fish. I stayed put for quite some time, mesmerized by the rising fish. I tried to determine what they were feeding on. made a nice cast and drifted the fly right over them. Nothing. They still continued to rise. I tried a few more casts with no success. To make a long story short, I tried just about everything in my box with no success. I decided to throw on a Royal Wulff. I had never caught a fish on this pattern, even thought I have tied a dozen or so and I know that in my heart it is a tried and true pattern. The proceeded to implement a parachute cast and let the Wulff drift right into their feeding lane. BAM! I set the hook and held on. It took a bit of chasing and dealing with the swift current, but I finally landed that beautiful cut. I was able to get close to shore so that my wife Janine could snap a few shots before the release.

Drawing Fish 52_24 Crappie

Drawing Fish 52_24 Crappie

Original status: Available, email me for details..

Swing by Jason's blog to see his rendition of a crappie!

Tech Info- Sharpie and pastel on cardboard

I had a different approach in mind then what I ended up with. I will try this different technique on a future fish installment. Sketched out the crappie with a Sharpie on a piece of cardboard. I then went in with pastels to add colors and value.

Drawing Fish 52_23 Leopard Rainbow

Drawing Fish 52_23 Leopard Rainbow

Original status: Original and prints are available email me for information.

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of his Leopard Rainbow!

Tech Info- Watercolor, Pastel and Gouache on Arches 140 lbs watercolor paper

This is the heavily-spotted form of the Alaskan Rainbow. Just started sketching with my pencil, then came in with washes and gouache details. Feeling a bit tight with this one. The brushes did not dance the way I would prefer. Adding the pastel helped to pull it together. There is always next week.

Drawing Fish 52_22 Permit

Drawing Fish 52_22 Permit

Tech Info- Sharpie, Watercolor and Gouache

Thanks to all that emailed your responses to Jason and myself. We did accept either the answer Permit or Pompano. So I gathered all of the correct answers and put them in a hat. My lovely wife will now pick the winner. And the winner of this Permit painting is......Donna L!

Donna - I sent you an email so that you can provide your mailing address. Thanks to all for entering and congratulations to Donna L!

Drawing Fish 52_22 Mystery Fish

Drawing Fish 52_22 Mystery Fish

Original status: Original will be sent to one lucky winner.

Swing by Jason's blog to receive an additional clue of the mystery fish!

Tech Info- Sharpie, Watercolor and Gouache

We are going to try something a bit different this week. As you can tell, I did not reveal what fish it was. You only get a small glimpse. Now for the fun part. Send me or Jason an email with your guess as to what the fish is. All of the correct guesses will be put into a hat and a winner pulled. The winner will be announced on Tuesday (6-7-11) when the full images are revealed. The winner will receive my original painting of this mystery fish. Deadline is Monday (6-6-11) by midnight CDT to email your guess. 1 guess only, no multiple guesses will be allowed. Good Luck! You can also receive another hint as to the fishes identity at Jason's Blog.