Brook Trout

Here is a recent painting I have done of another Brookie rising for his meal.  I used more muted colors for this painting for an older look to the work.  The deep browns, pale yellows, and burnt oranges of this painting seem to give it a look one might see in a color plate from the turn of the century.  The size of this work is not very big (@8x12) which is good because I have not had very much time lately to put paint to paper or fly to water.

As you can see, I started with a very simple line drawing.  What you can't see is the countless light pencil marks and erased miss cues I had to go through to get the finished line drawing you see here.  As I am finishing the line drawing up, I darken those lines I want for the final painting and erase all the others.

After the line drawing is done I start the process of dropping water onto the fish where I want the paint to flow and keeping the paper dry where I do not want the paint.  from that point on it is just a mater of building up layers of colors and pigments to get the finished look I am going for.  Unlike oil based painting, usually in watercolor painting you get only one shot at getting it right.  You can not just wipe it off and start over because once it is on the paper it is on it for good.  The art of using this medium is in how you let the paint/water flow.  All this has to be done without trying to control the paint.  If I try to control it then it just gets angry and gets the painter frustrated.  Instead I try and guide it where I want it to go, all the time letting the flow of the pigments do most of the work.

Also in response to that lack of activity on the fishing/blogging/painting front I have decided to start a new commitment to regular posting.  I am not sure if my lack of fishing has contributed to my lack of posting over the last few months or my lack of blogging has contributed to my lack of time on the water but I am resolving that right now with a new commitment to more frequent blog posts.  Last year my daily posting got me more time on the water than ever before and even though I am unable to return to that sizable commitment I will do this.  Twice a week I will be posting something on this blog.  One at the beginning of the week and one more at the end of the week for the remainder of the year.  It may be sun, mon or tue and it might come on on wed, thur, fri, or sat but it will be there.  With that I leave you till next time.