Drawing Fish 52-11 Yamame Trout

Drawing Fish 52_11 Yamame Trout

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Yamame Trout!

Tech Info- Digital - PhotoShop

It was Jason's suggestion that we create artwork of the Yamame Trout in honor of Japan and the tremendous challenges that lie ahead for their country. Jason had created the line work which he featured on one of his T shirts. We decided to each use this same artwork and colorize the image as we saw fit. I went digital on this one, since Jason provided the artwork in digital form.

Drawing Fish 52-10 Peacock Bass

Drawing Fish 52_10 Peacock Bass

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Peacock Bass!

Tech Info- Gouache and Sharpie on Oatmeal Stock

Drawing Fish 52-9 Arctic Char

Drawing Fish 52_9 Arctic Char

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Arctic Char rendition!

Tech Info- Gouache and Sharpie on Oatmeal Stock

Trying something a bit different. I went for the strong shape and the bright colors. This is a different style they I want to keep on experimenting with on upcoming fish. I want to achieve a strong recognizable shape while keeping the detail to a minimum. My goal is have just enough detail that the species is recognizable. I want to feel as if I put down one more stroke, it would have been one too many.I really want to try pushing the limit with this concept.

Drawing Fish 52-8 Brook Trout

Drawing Fish 52_8 Brook Trout

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Brookie rendition!

Tech Info- Gouache and Watercolor on Oatmeal Stock

The best part of a brookie is it's fins. More later.

Drawing Fish 52-7 Tarpon

Drawing Fish 52_7 Tarpon

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Tarpon!

Tech Info- Sharpie and flair pen on bond paper - digital coloring in Photoshop.

What a week it has been! Today 12 hours, yesterday, 16. I was afraid that I was not going to get home in time from the day job to get this one in. I had intended on breaking out the gouache this week, but I just did not have it in me to create the image that I wanted. Instead, I did a quick sketch, scanned it it and colored it a bit in Photoshop. I really want to do this image (and fish) justice, so I think I will paint one up with gouche and watercolor over the weekend. Check back to check it out.

Drawing Fish 52-6 Northern Pike

Drawing Fish 52_6 Northern Pike

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Northern Pike!

Tech Info- Sharpie and gray marker and white pencil on oatmeal paper 9" x 11".

Really long day at work. Really did not have it in me.....again. Hopefully next week things will click. More later.

Drawing Fish 52-5 Sea Run Brown Trout

Drawing Fish 52_5 Sea Run Brown Trout

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition Sea Run Brown!

Tech Info- Sharpie and gray marker and white pencil on oatmeal paper 9" x 11".

Not much to say with this one. Really did not have it in me tonight. Long miserable day at the day job compounded by and extremely long return commute. But there is always next week!

Patagonia Sketches

These were the initial set of sketches for fly ideas that I generated for the Patagonia shirt project. These were all done with a Sharpie on Chipoltle napkins with gouache. I will have a later paost which shows the next step which are the refinement sketches.

Df52_4 Redfish

Drawing Fish 52_4 Redfish

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition Redfish!

Tech Info- Sharpie and Gouache on oatmeal paper 9" x 11".

I spun the wheel of fish this week and it landed on salt again. This time the redfish. I was really drawn to the dark spot which looks like it represents another eye which may fool a predator. Since I am still having fun experimenting with gouache, brush strokes and my oatmeal paper, I decided to use it again this week.

Au Sable Morning

My latest landscape painting painted for Ed as a parting NIFT Presidents gift.

Df52_3 Bonefish

Drawing Fish 52_3 Bonefish

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition Bonefish!

Tech Info- Sharpie and Gouache on oatmeal paper 9" x 11".

I was happy with the way the Pumpkinseed went, so I decided that a similar approach was in order for the bonefish. I have never fished for, caught or held a bonefish. I sure would like to do all three some day! With that being said, I struggled a bit with this one. I had to do a bit of research about this species before I could begin sketching. The information that I read that I found most intriguing is the bonefishes ability to reflect it's surroundings due to the highly reflective nature of it's scales. Armed with that information, I made sure to add a bit of exaggerated color in this piece. I also went thick and heavy with the gouache to give texture and depth to the piece. Unfortunately, the scan does not show all of the subtle brush strokes. I also had to do a few warm up sketches, since the proportions are a bit foreign to me. I really enjoyed reading all about the bonefish in my McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia. having the net and some great books to gain additional knowledge is one of the great pluses of this project.

New T Shirts!

My first shirt for Patagonia that is printed with my original art is available online! I really enjoyed working with the folks at Patagonia. This was an extremely fun and rewarding project. The Green Butt Skunk is shown here, and I will have additional posts on the other two shortly. (Hint, they are a Tarpon fly and a wooly bugger). I would like to send out a big thanks to Bob White for hooking me up with the fine folks at Patagoniaonline!

DF52_2 Pumpkinseed

Drawing Fish 52_2 Pumpkinseed

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition Pumpkinseed!

Tech Info- Sharpie and Gouache on oatmeal paper 9" x 11".

Bluegills remind me of Summer fun and kids. We all may be needing this kick in our memories right now! I have caught (and released) many spawning Pumpkinseeds in the Spring. I have held them and admired the depth and brilliance of their amazing coloration. The vibrancy of their colors resemble that of many saltwater species. My aim was to capture that brilliance in this painting. Almost need to wear shades when looking at this!

I started by sketching out the shapes and forms using a Sharpie pen in my oatmeal colored sketchbook. I then started to apply the base layers of gouache blending as required.

I used my stiffer bristle brush to introduce texture. This texture is to give the illusion of scales without painting individual scales. You will not see me painting individual scales (unless it may be a tarpon or carp which have large scales). My drafting days are long past and I welcome the challenge or using as few a brush strokes as possible to accomplish the task. Not to mention the 30 minute time limit helps to enforce that!

New T Shirt Art

Cameron over at the Fiberglass Manifesto has a new shirt offering for this year. And it just so happens that one of my flies from the DF 365 project graces the front. Head over to his site and pick one up as they are only offered for a limited time. These shirts are high quality and will look great out on the stream of at the tying bench!

Drawing Fish 52_1 Rainbow Trout

Drawing Fish 52_1 Common Rainbow Trout

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

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

Tech Info- Watercolor and gouache on 140 lbs Arches watercolor paper.

Well here we go with the first in another interesting series. I have a feeling this project will be more of a challenge than the previous. Jason and I decided to kick this off with the common rainbow trout. My first path was to ink out the trout, then come back with watercolor. Instead, I grabbed my medium squirrel brush and just went at it. the intention was to create a general feel for the skin and overlay a general shape onto it. I was a bit concerned about the time element so in place of rendering all the spots, I went at it with random splatter. I was a bit aggressive with the color and should have left some more of the white paper. Not sure how I feel about this piece, but I have 51 more opportunities to work on it.

New for 2011

Starting a new creative series on Thursday in collaboration with Jason Borger. DF 52 but instead of drawing flies, we will be drawing fish. Posts will be every Thursday. Stretching my creative legs in a new direction. The rules will be the same, 30 minutes maximum time to create. It will be artists choice on what to portray, whole fish or just portions. Skies the limit on medium. This will definitely be a challenge for me but one I hope to grow artistically from. This Thursday will be the first posting.

I will have more news on other projects slated for 2011 coming shortly.

The Rainbow above was the first fish I ever painted. I believe I did this one 8 years ago.

Drawing Flies 52_52 Christmas Spey

Drawing Flies 52_52 Christmas Spey

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Christmas Spey!

Tech Info- Watercolor and gouache on 140 lbs Arches watercolor paper.

Well, we have reached the end of Drawing Flies 52. It has been a fantastic year collaborating with Jason on this project! It is also another memorable milestone in my artistic pursuits. I would like to thank Jason for the great inspiration during the course of this project. Having the opportunity and privilege to work with someone of such a high caliber is a great honor.

I would like to thank everyone who has followed us all the way through the project and a special thanks to all who have provided good homes to many of the originals and prints!

Jason and I will be discussing the next project and the possibility of a book, so stay tuned to the blog and my Facebook page for the latest developments.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Drawing Flies 52_51 Gray Ghost

Drawing Flies 52_51 Gray Ghost

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Gray Ghost!

Tech Info- Watercolor and gouache on 140 lbs Arches watercolor paper.

A Carrie Stevens Famous streamer creation made to imitate the rainbow smelt. I am not really pleased with the way this has turned out. Oh sure, I can blame it on a number of things going on right now. I would have liked to work a bit more transparent and the background was quite busy. I started to mess with things in the end (A huge mistake). Fortunately the 30 minute clock prevented me from turning this into a total disaster.

One more to go. I cannot believe it!

Drawing Flies 52_50 Winters Hope

Drawing Flies 52_50 Winters Hope

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Winters Hope!

Tech Info- Watercolor and gouache on 140 lbs Arches watercolor paper.

Stared in my ususal way with this one. a quick sketch in pencil to block out the shapes. I then laid in the background wash, leaving white paper in the wing and tinsel body areas. Blocked in with water color, then finished off with the gouache.

I have swung this patterns on a couple of occasions on bright days when the water was clear. The pattern has not been productive for me.....yet!

Drawing Flies 52_49 Bright Fox

Drawing Flies 52_49 Bright Fox

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

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the Bright Fox!

Tech Info- Sharpie pen, watercolor and gouache.

Started this one by just loosely sketching with the sharpie. I then came back over the pen markes with watercolor and gouache. I ran across the Ray Bergman patterns from a post at Hatches Magazine. You can read more about the Bergman patterns at that post.

As you can tell, we are coming close to the end of the Drawing Flies 52. Stay tuned for what we will be up to next!