Twitchy Trout

Not much to say about this one.  Just me having a bit of fun doodling and messing around with the computer.  I figured that it looked like a good label for a brand of beer.

Drawing Abstracts & Learning About Our History

I have had a few days off but with the cool weather sweeping in from the north bringing with it rain and gloomy weather, I have resigned myself to hanging around the house with the kids and doodling a few ink drawings on paper.  The top one is titled simply 'Abstract Trout'.  The bottom one is aptly named 'Abstract Mayfly'

  For the mayfly I decided to add it to my list of shirts available at my tee shirt shop at www.hexfishing.spreadshirt.com . If you wanted a print then why not get it on a shirt for $21. Choose your color and size and show your love for these great little bugs.
  If owning the drawings is more your speed then shoot me an email and we will work it out.  They will be available on a first come first serve basis.

Learning About History
Before the rain came however, the family and I decided to hit the road for a little bit and explore our great state and in the process learn a bit more about the history of our country.

  Our first stop was the Revolutionary War site of Ole Ninety Six.  A key stone to the Carolina back country around the 1770, Ninety Six was the site of numerous skirmishes and confrontations throughout the war culminating with its eventual demise near the end of the war.
  Teaching the kids about such important sites is an important step in helping them realize just what our countrymen sacrificed in the name of freedom.  It also is a great way to spend an afternoon and get a little fresh air away from all the computer games and technical distractions in this day and age.

   If you haven't explored the history around your area then I strongly encourage you to get out and do a learning yourself.  If you have kids, bring them along.  I think it will surprise you just how fascinated they will be with the real life history of this great country.

 

Painting Bass

  I painted this last week as I was watching my kids mess around in the small 2 foot deep pool that has occupied a corner of my yard for the last two months.  It was a typical warm day with the kind of weather that makes bass run for deep water so painting them leaping for a streamer was about as close as I was going to come to catching one.
  This is not the first bass I have painted nor will it be the last but it is one of the better ones.  I'm not there completely but I could pick apart my own work for days and point out all the little things that I would have liked to do different.  Unfortunately, or more appropriately, due to the fact watercolors are a very unforgiving medium, I have come to the realization that to try to control it to much is to loose the essence that makes a watercolor painting .... well, a watercolor.  I've adopted the feeling that the little nuances of watercolor is what makes the painting a piece of art and not a photograph.
   Unlike trout, I find bass a much harder species to paint.  The colors are more muted and the variation in tones make shading and detailing the bass a rather daunting task for me. Try doing it all outside with 90 degree heat that dries out wet paper faster than the IRS can loose important emails and you have quite a challenge on your hands.        
    Typically I see the popular bass portraits out there being more about the surrounding scenery than about the actual fish.  You always see a bass guy with a big sporty boat yanking on a bent rod in the the background with a leaping bass breaking the surface.  The bass usually is secondary in the piece even though rightfully it should be first.
  I'm not saying that they aren't Really well done, because often they are masterpieces, but for me I love the main, if not only, focus to be on the fish.

 
I call this:

July Bass
(original right?)
roughly 9x12ish
watercolor on paper
FOR SALE

Feel free to email or shoot me a message on Facebook for purchasing information.

Red Cheek Rainbow Trout

  Painting trout has a special attraction to me an its not only because I also love to catch them.  They are some of the most picturesque fish in nature and it is a joy to capture their unique beauty in translucent pigments that make the colors pop.  The color of a brilliant red cheeked rainbow is like a painting so it is only natural that I would want to capture a hint of that beauty in my work.

  Truth be told, I am playing a little bit of catch up with these blog posts.  I actually painted this piece last week and just haven't taken the time to post it here on the blog.  Time has been at a premium as of late and taking the time to paint a work like this and then turn around a do a write up on it right after it is done amounts to a long day at the kitchen table that could have been spent playing with the kiddos.
 

    Now with the patriotic weekend in the rear-view mirror and still ten digits to show after setting our street ablaze with fireworks I'm back to the blog.

"Red Cheek Rainbow Trout"
Watercolor on Paper
14in x 11in
For Sale

.  A lot of you have already see this over on the facebook page which has been getting a quite a workout lately.  For you that are not yet a member of my HexFishing page on Facebook and want to see my paintings before they hit the blog I encourage you to click on over and join.  

  If your wall space is limited but you still want to own a piece of this painting then check out my tees HERE or on the button at the top of this blog.  Its a trout anglers alternative to all the Guy Harvey shirts out there.

Southern Trout Magazine Interview + More Great News

  I wanted to share this exciting news that happened to me during my brief hiatus from the blogging world.  A lot of you that follow my facebook page or read Southern Trout have no doubt already seen this but for the rest of you that missed it I'll recap.
  A few months ago I was contacted by Don Kirk, the chief editor and architect of Southern Trout Magazine, about doing a profile on me and my art in his magazine.  Luckily I was sitting down when I received this humbling news.  For a guy like me that started to paint fish for the simple reason that I wanted a few nice trout paintings to hang around the house, the realization that other people I didn't even know wanted to see my work is still a bit surreal.  Its one thing to have your friends and family say that my paintings are good but its a whole other animal when strangers want to interview me about my art.
   After doing the interview I was soon after contacted again, this time by Leah, and asked if they could use a photo of mine for the cover.  Of course I promptly agreed.  The photo they chose was one I shot earlier in the year of my beautiful Abel Fly Reel on a slab of granite on my beloved Chattooga River.

    My Abel fly reel is by far one of the best reels I have ever owned or fished with.  Its one of those pieces of equipment you just cant help to take a photo of.  I relate it to a car guy and his prized Cuda or vintage Model T roadster, give it a good backdrop and its a picture worthy piece of art.  Put the Abel Reel on a hand crafted bamboo fly rod from Fall River Fly Rods and its the complete package.  Fantastic!

  But wait, there is more.  They also asked me if they could use one of my Tenkara articles of a technique known as the Normal Drift with subsequent articles to follow relating to Tenkara.  In short, you are now looking at a regular contributor to Southern Trout Magazine.
  Wow is all I can say.  I would have never thought I could parlay my love of outdoor art and fly fishing into a pursuit that other people would want to hear about.  The fact that most of my paintings now only stay in my studio for short amounts of time before being shipped off to new owners is still amazing to me.

   
   If you haven't taken a look at Southern Trout Magazine yet, I strongly recommend that you click over a enjoy this free read.  Its the perfect thing to read on the back deck with a tall glass of sweet tea and a bit of Old Crow Medicine Show playing in the background.
Enjoy!