Been A Long Time - This Is A Big Post!!

It has been far to long since my last post.  Actually it has been far to long since I have done a painting, thought about trout, or for that matter, done anything on the web besides checking Email.  The reasons are many including family emergencies, a whole lot of traveling, an art show I did that took a large chunk of time, and probably most of all a complete relapse into laziness.  So to jump-start my interest in the web I knew that I had to do a decent painting to get back into the game.  I have had some decent luck with bird lately and my experience with fish... well you know how that has gone.  So I finally decided to combine the two with the only bird worthy to pluck large rainbows from mountain lakes - The American Bald Eagle.

As always, I started off with a detailed sketch and worked in color as I go.  I have been asked how I get the ideas for paintings and in this day and age it is quite easy.  The web is a great source for color photos and reference material to work from.  It is however quite difficult to find the right composition I want so I end up finding a number of photos and drawing inspiration from them all.

I call this work:

"Fishing Master"
Watercolor on Paper
11in. x 14in.
For Sale


I also thought that I would give you a quick photo montage of my activities of the past weeks.  It is the least I could do for my absence from the blogging community.
First thing was a trip to the beach with the family and a few friends.  We got rained on one night really hard but the kids and I loved it.  The raccoon that stole my sausage from a cooler five feet from where my wife was washing the camping dishes also loved it....  We had grits for breakfast the next morning.

I tried for about ten minutes to surf fish but my heart wasn't in it and I soon found myself looking for shells with the kids and hassling a few horseshoe crabs that we came across at low tide.  When I go home I did however manage to hook a few sunfish.

Next was a few days of hunting for turkey.  What you see is exactly what I saw the entire time I was hunting.  Lots of trees and no turkeys.

I squeezed in a few hours of fishing for sunfish here and there..... again.1

I also did an art show in the town of Pendleton SC and managed to get my name a picture in the Greenville Paper.  It wasn't a huge success but I did manage to sell a few paintings and come out ahead.  Since it fell on Masters weekend as well as Easter, the show was not as well attended as I would have hoped for.
One thing I did get was an nomination for best in show.  I of course didn't win anything but it was just nice to be noticed for my first show.

I also received a whole lot of feedback from other artists at the show who were surprised that this was my first showing.  They had great things to say about my collection of art and seemed to really appreciate it.  Overall the experience was an encouragement for me and my art and I hope to find time to try another showing sometime in the not to near future.

I also got some time to do some bass fishing on a fly rod.  No biggies but It was still fun to wet a fly.

And last but not least is my book.  Okay, its not really my book but my name is in the credits and my art is scattered throughout.  I am also unable to read a lick of it because it is entirely in Spanish (I wish now I would have payed more attention in school) but I am still excited to have my work finally in print.

The book is on carp -barbel- fishing around Spain and it comes fro a fellow blogger from across the pond.  You can check out his blog at Barbos con Mosca for your own copy of the book.  His publisher was kind enough to send me a few copies for myself and a few close friends but if you want one then you will have to look to him.  If you have time, at least stop by his site and check how they do it over the pond.  He has some great pics and great advise if you have a translate option  on your computer.
I did do a whole lot more in my blogging absence but most of it was mundane or personal and would bore you to death so I'll end on a high note.  I think was the longest I have gone in three years without posting or checking blogs.  It was good to have the down time but now it feels good to be back at it.  I hope you survived reading this post and if you didn't then your not reading this anyway