DF&F 52_16 Iron Demon Steelhead (Metalhead) Fly

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Steelhead Fly!

Tech Info - Sharpie sketch on paper, scanned, Photoshop post processing.


And out of the primordial ooze rose the new species of aquatic life ready to handle the harsh realities of this new world. It's only predator, the metal head.... 


Having fun combining my love of art, fly fishing, my mechanical and engineering background and a bit of Star Wars influence.


More for the t-shirt series.

DF&F 52_15 Steelhead

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Steelhead!

Tech Info - Sharpie, gray Copic marker and white charcoal pencil on oatmeal paper. Post processing with some grunge in Photoshop.

I think this may be the subject I have been looking for in a t-shirt series robot fish! If I had more time I would have added more detail.This is what our fish may evolve to!

DF&F 52_14 Permit

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Permit!

Tech Info - 140 lbs Watercolor paper, India Ink, Small eye dropper and a bit of gouache.

We chose the permit in honor of Jose Wejebe who was recently killed when he crashed his plane. I went with the same ink and eye dropper technique knowing that Jose would try new and different things in pursuit of fish. 

To purchase the original, click below: 

To purchase a print, click below: 

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_13 Flash Back Hares Ear

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Adams!

Tech Info - 140 lbs Watercolor paper, India Ink, Small eye dropper and a bit of gouache.

Experimented some more this week with the ink and eye dropper technique. 

To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase a print, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_12 Adams

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Adams!

Tech Info - 140 lbs Watercolor paper, India Ink, Small eye dropper and a bit of gouache.

Wanted to try something a bit different this week. One, we went with just a fly, two, I used and eyedropper filled with india ink to create the image. Wanted something a bit more abstract, but I still am happy with the results.


Original Status: SOLD

To purchase a print, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_11 Chinook Salmon

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Chinook!

Tech Info - Photoshop Fun.

Apologize for the late post. Had a busy weekend fishing in the Driftless area of Wisconsin celebrating my buddy Jon's bachelor party. 20 guys trout fishing, good food and a few beers.


Had fun working purely digital with this one.

DF&F 52_10 Pumpkinseed and the Pan Fish Slayer

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

Tech Info - Watercolor , gouache and pastel on oatmeal stock. 10" x 12".

I was really digging the field sketch theme that Jason went with. The pan fish slayer  pattern was developed by my good buddy Corey T. This pattern attracts the pan fish and bass. I have seen him just kill with this pattern at the NIFTY annual one fly contest. Best surface bug hands down and it is real easy to tie!


ORIGINAL: SOLD
To purchase a print, click below:

 

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_9 Tarpon

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

Tech Info - Watercolor , gouache and pastel on oatmeal stock. 10" x 12".

This week we went to the salt with hopes of warmer weather on the horizon. For those of you that are wondering, Jason has had a very hectic few weeks and should be caught up with his posts by the end of the weekend. So be sure to swing by his blog to check it out.


Pretty Straight forward with this one. I sketched in the tarpon and taped the perimeter off.

Next step was to lay in a very loose and colorful watercolor wash. You can see my palette in this shot. I rarely clean out the mixing areas. It helps to gray down the colors so they do not look like they are right out of the tube.

Once the wash dried a bit, I started with the gouache and roughed in the eye. 

Next was more gouache, leaning towards white with other colors added in. Just laying in the general values. (Sorry, some of the pictures were a bit out of focus. I did not realize it until later.)

Continuing with laying in gouache.

More layering and using a damp brush to quickly blend the gouache. Gouache dries quickly and allows me swiftly move from area to area blending and dropping in color.

My gouache palette is not cleaned out either. A quick spray of water and I can activate color.

Time to work on the eye. Almost done.

Time to pull the tape, step back and make any last minute adjustments. 

Added some pastel and my signature. Done.

To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase a print, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52-8 Tiger Trout and Driftless Caddis

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Tiger Trout or Driftless Caddis!

Tech Info - Watercolor , gouache and pastel on Watercolor paper. 11" x 17".

I know this one was very simple. Just lines sketched for the structure and an action line sketch sketched in to show the flow of the image. My plan was to get the image sketched in and that would be it for the post. Next step was to continue on with the painting without the pressure of trying to finish it within the 30 minute time frame. After the initial sketch, I started to lay down washes. Lots of water and pigment. I like to lay down the mids and the darks early. Knowing that I will be coming back in with gouach later allows me to to this. The image at this stage is nothing but a collection of dark shapes. Once these washers were dry, (which took a long time!) I came in and started to work on the form and lighted shapes with gouache. Below is the series of images to get to the final.:

First step, very wet washes and a bit of spattered water for texture.

After the first wash dried, I added another layer, Lots of pigment and water. I also stood the image 180 degrees so that the washes ran in the direction of the action. 

The final image.

One of these days I will get to finishing the Brown and Stone image. 

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_7 Bunny Leech

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Lake Trout or Bunny!

Tech Info - Watercolor and gouache on Strathmore cold press watercolor paper. 9" x 11".

Nice and simple leech for this week. Looking forward to swing the tube version of this for Spring Steel soon. The way the weather has been, it will not be long!

To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase a print, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_6 Striped Bass and Deceiver

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Striper and Deceiver!

Tech Info - Watercolor and gouache on oatmeal paper. 10" x 12".

Look Closely. I call this One "Eye of the Striper" I have the song - "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor now playing over and over in my head.

To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase a print, click below:

Drawing Flies & Fish 52_5 Crazy Charlie

Original status: Available

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Permit and Charlie!

Tech Info - Watercolor and gouache on oatmeal paper. 10" x 12".

Went with just the fly this time. It has been a while since I have done just a fly. Feels good. 


To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase a print, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

STREAMERS 365

Be sure to swing by Streamers365 for some great feather wing eye candy! As Darren puts it:

During 2012, we will be showcasing one feather-wing streamers a day for the entire year. The concept is called 365 blogging, but if you look at a 2012 calendar, you may notice there are actually 366 days! Not to worry, we’ve been able to scrape up an extra streamer for the day. We will be auctioning off most of the streamers presented on the blog. This is a great opportunity for collectors to find some amazing streamers to add to their collection. We will also be putting together a series of books based on the streamers presented in the project. These will likely be on a quarterly basis


Link to Streamers365.

Following Along

I had to mention two fellow artist and fly fishers who are following along with Jason and I this year.

John from Iowa and his blog.

And will at Lineslinger blog.

Please swing by their blogs and check out their great work!

DF&F 52_4 Brookie and X-Caddis

Original status: Available


Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Brookie and X-Caddis!

Tech Info - Pastel on black paper. 10" x 12".

The X-Caddis is one of my favorite Summertime patterns for the Driftless area and on the Michigan's AuSable.


This one is called "Swing and a miss". I was going for an image of a quick aggressive strike, with an unfortunate miss. 


To purchase the original, click below:

To purchase prints, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_3 Cutthroat trout and a Chernobyl Ant

Original status: Unavailable


Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Cutt and ant!

Tech Info - Sharpie, watercolor, gouache and Photoshop on oatmeal paper. 10" x 12".

I wanted to create an image that portrayed the viewer lying on the stream bed looking up. You are seeing the fly drift, debris rushing through the water column, and then you see the trout rise. will there be a take or not? I really struggled with this one and the 30 minutes came up fast. My quick application of color turned to mud and I really struggled with the values. Every once in a while things do not come together and you just have to let go until another day. I will definitely be revisiting this one.


To Purchase Prints, click below: 

 

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.

DF&F 52_2 Brown Trout and Stone Fly

Original status: Available


Swing by Jason's blog to check out his Brown or Stone (artist choice)!

Tech Info - Sharpie, white pastel pencil, Photoshop on oatmeal paper. 10" x 12".

I plan on painting this image in the upcoming weeks (as a separate project).
Used a little Photoshop to darken areas of the image to create depth and a focal point.


NEXT WEEK'S SELECTION WILL BE POSTED IN SIDE BAR ON RIGHT SIDE OF THE BLOG PAGE.

To Purchase Original, click below:

To Purchase Prints, click below:

Prints are 8" x 10" reproduced on digital watercolor stock, signed and number. Each print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.