Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Juvenile Rainbow Trout On Leaves - Watercolor

Today I awoke hoping to get out and do a nice long bike ride but as I settled down to fuel up with coffee I looked out the window to see a rumbling front rolling in from the north.  Another morning of rain in the South East...  So what to do on a wet morning - I guess I'll paint myself up another trout.
  Lately I have been having a hard time selecting trout to paint.  I have done so many over the years it now beginning to get difficult not to repeat myself.  On the flip side, my love of painting these fish has forced me to spend more time on perfecting my technique.  I can now go back to the beginnings of this blog and see a steady progression from armature works not worthy to grace a wall to a collection of paintings that fellow anglers now pay me to have hang over their fly tying desks.  I have even been lucky enough to have my works published and I am currently in talks to have more of my illustrations featured in a prominent event.
  To say that starting this blog has been a good thing for my fishing and art would be a gross understatement.  Again I would like to thank all of you loyal followers that have forced me to improve myself.

  For this painting I decided to move forward with a style I experimented with for my recent Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout watercolor.  After finally deciding to paint the Juvenile stage of a rainbow trout I got to work planning out the scene.  Using the large Bristol smooth paper I again began by inking out my sketch of a Juvenile Rainbow trout on a selection of fall leaves.  Using these bright colors I felt was a great backdrop for such a brilliant stage in the life cycle of a Rainbow Trout.
  To add a bit of texture to the background I then used the three colors of the leaves and splashed them around freely.  After I finished with the splashing of paint I then got to work painting up the trout.  After a few shadows are added The finished product seems to come alive.

"Juvenile Rainbow Trout On Leaves"
-  11x15
- Watercolor
- Acid Free Smooth Bristol Paper
FOR SALE
Juvenile Rainbow Trout On Leaves



8 comments:

Swamp Yankee said...

I like the colorful splashing of color, reminds me of your "beer influenced" greenback from last year, one of my favorites of yours. Keep it up!

Mel said...

Hey, Joel, success comes to those who have put the effort in and paid there dues, so to speak. Very nice work. Congratulations on your continued success both with the blog and your awesome artwork.

Feather Chucker said...

Another amazing painting. Great work Joel.

Bill said...

Beautiful work!

Anonymous said...

Leaves are a nice touch. Love the colors:)

Unknown said...

Swamp Yankee - I just sold that piece so it might have enfluanced my style. I began painting it at 9am so not beer was abused in the making of this piece.

Mel - many thanks. Encouragement like that keeps me going.

Kevin - thanks, next time you hit the mountains let me know. If I can get it off I will make the drive.

Lester - I may have painted two or three dozen rainbows over the last three years and none of those are the same either. I figured par marks and leaves were a good combo.

Bill & Anon.. - Many thanks.

Josh said...

All I can say is Wow. That is definitely a vibrant photo but seems to leave me feeling refreshed.

cofisher said...

I'm always amazed at anyone who has some sort of talent. You my friend are at the top of your game. This is lovely.