Drawing Fish & Flies 52 Driftless Brookie & X-Caddis. This is the fourth in a series of four fish and flies in the same style (and may end up on a set of greeting cards). Next week, I’ll be moving on to another approach to drawing/painting.

The brookie that I used here is from Canada’s Sutton River. It’s a fish that weighed somewhere between five and six pounds. Not exactly a typical modern-day brookie for the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, but let’s just pretend.

Thinking about the secretive valleys of the Driftless, and Southwestern Wisconsin in general, really gets me missing that area. When I lived on the edge of that region (in Madison), people in other parts of the country would ask me if I was crazy—why would I live in Wisconsin where there is no good trout fishing? I would only smile and say, “No good trout fishing? Right! Yes, it is too bad….” No good musky, pike, bass, panfish, carp, salmon, steelhead or giant lake-run brown fishing, either. Stay away.

Notes: This was done in the same way as last week’s (and the week before’s (and the week before that’s)) fish/fly. Had to follow the same steps as before to keep things on-track. Used all 30 minutes to add a bit more color detail this time, but no major “peeled paint” deviations like last week.

Like the last three weeks, though the end result is still like a cross between a tattoo and a corroded plaster wall (I just like that feel, it has nothing specific to do with trout fishing, other than perhaps reflecting the look of certain buildings in some places that I have been over the years).

Process: Pencil and watercolor on 140lb Canson stock. Washed and wiped, then re-painted and scanned into Photoshop. Image levels and saturation adjusted in Photoshop.

Available? No, this is an analog/digital hybrid, thus no true “original” exists.

JK’s Image: Jeff’s B&X-C image can be found here.

Apologies for the lateness. More later, but for now this is the third in a series of four fish and flies in the same style. Got “peeling paint” this time, as well as eroded plaster (frustratingly, the third rinse I did to get that peeled paint cost me too much time elsewhere). May not look like it, but I used all 30 minutes right to the last second. Brook trout and X-Caddis is next….

Update: Okay, back again. Here’s the standard run-down of the image:

Notes: This was done in the same way as last week’s (and the week before’s) fish/fly. Had to follow the same steps as before, but I made one fatal departure, unfortunately. I used a third rinse to soften the paper enough to get that “peeled paint” look on the body of the fish. Tried to do more than I should have and I got cut short on time with the final image processing. Didn’t get quite what I had wanted overall, but that’s just the way this DF stuff goes.

What did come out okay was the black touches on the Chernobyl Ant. I fretted a bit about how to approach the fly since I figured that I might lose it totally against the saturated oranges/reds of the trout. I also didn’t want to go with a full black foam version since it would weigh things down far too heavily. The three very quick streaks of black did the job. The fly is now an attention-getter, but doesn’t overwhelm. At least that worked!

Like the last two weeks, though the end result is still like a cross between a tattoo and a corroded plaster wall (I just like that feel, it has nothing specific to do with trout fishing, other than perhaps reflecting the look of certain buildings in some places that I have been over the years).

Process: Pencil and watercolor on 140lb Canson stock. Washed and wiped, then re-painted and scanned into Photoshop. Image levels and saturation adjusted in Photoshop.

Available? No, this is an analog/digital hybrid, thus no true “original” exists.

JK’s Image: Jeff’s C&C image with an unexpected—and I think cool—viewpoint can be found here.

Update 2: Here’s what I had intended to get had I not tried for that peeling paint look. This is giving myself back the extra few minutes of time that I burned on peel when I should have been focusing on post-processing. This is the cutthroat that may show up in the greeting card set. Consider it a DF&F 52+5 (+5 minutes, that is) image.

When stating the Kapaa Redside piece seen in the previous post, I had a certain color palette and background approach in mind. After I got a little ways into the painting, I realized it wasn’t really what I wanted to express, so I used the first Kapaa set-up as an experimental piece, trying a few things that I wanted to play with anyway. Got some interesting bits out of it, and made notes on the piece after I worked through it all. Thought that it might make an interesting compare/contrast to the actual Kapaa painting itself. Hope that a few readers find it worth a look.

Here are a couple of quick looks at a recent watercolor I did for a client who lives in Kapaa, Hawaii (thus the title of the post and the piece). It’s a more detailed version of a quicker Deschutes River redside study I did a few months back. I like some of the things that this fish offers, and may do one or two other small pieces based on it (thinking a head shot and perhaps some skin and/or a fin). The piece is now on its way from snowy Portland to decidedly non-snowy Hawaii (where there are very few redsides).

Running down to Eugene, Oregon to give a talk tonight, but wanted to get this up before I left. (And seeing that is about to snow for real here, who knows what time I’ll be back?)

As discussed previously, Jeff and I are pre-announcing each week’s DF&F 52 fish and/or fly ahead of time. We are doing that so that (hopefully) a few readers with brushes of their own will follow along. If you happen to fall into that category, please try to either link back to one or both of our blogs, or post a link to your blog in our comment areas. We’d like to see what you’re up to! That said, the DF&F 52 subject for January 21, 2012 is:

Cutthroat trout*
(I’m thinking Yellowstone cutt )

Remember the rules, too: 30 minutes maximum start to finish. That includes things like  scanning time if you’re doing something digitally enhanced, but not set-up time for paper, paint, etc., or scanning time for a fully finished piece. Beyond that, there are no rules, so go for it!

*If you’re feeling up to it, combine it with a Chernobyl Ant—both Jeff and I will.

Drawing Fish & Flies 52 brown trout & stonefly nymph (two-tone, rubber legs). Like last week’s two-for-one, a brown-and-stonefly combo is a classic one in fishing (at least to me—and to Jeff, since this was his pick). The first truly big brown I ever caught, I did *not* catch on a stonefly nymph, but black stones have indeed counted for a pile of other big brownies over the years. The fish above is a trout from Montana’s Bighorn River, and it definitely took a nymph, although not a stonefly.

Notes: This was done in the same way as last week’s fish/fly, but this time it was deliberate from the start. Had to follow the same steps as before, and pace myself to make sure that I kept drying times, rinses, etc., more-or-less identical.

And like last week, the end result is like a cross between a tattoo (thinking New Zealand Maori tattoos) and a corroded plaster wall (I just like that feel, it has nothing specific to do with trout fishing, other than perhaps reflecting the look of certain buildings in some places that I have been over the years).

Process: Pencil and watercolor on 140lb Canson stock. Washed and wiped, then re-painted and scanned into Photoshop. Image levels and saturation adjusted in Photoshop.

Available? No, this is an analog/digital hybrid, thus no true “original” exists. Like last week’s ‘bow and Royal Wulff combo, this image may end up in a set of greeting cards.

JK’s Image: Jeff’s B&SN image can be found here. Looking forward to seeing the final painting.

A few more notes about the DF&F 52 project:

Update: Check out the interview with Jeff over at The Fiberglass Manifesto. There’s a nice slideshow of all of Jeff’s work from the 2011 project year there, too.

As discussed previously, Jeff and I are pre-announcing each week’s fish and/or fly ahead of time. We are doing that so that (hopefully) a few readers with brushes of their own will follow along. If you happen to fall into that category, please try to either link back to one or both of our blogs, or post a link to your blog in our comment areas. We’d like to see what you’re up to! That said, the DF&F 52 subject for next week is:

Black Stonefly Nymph (artist’s choice of pattern)*

Remember the rules, too: 30 minutes maximum start to finish. That includes things like  scanning time if you’re doing something digitally enhanced, but not set-up time for paper, paint, etc., or scanning time for a finished piece. Beyond that, there are no rules, so go for it!

Jeff and I also discussed the possibility of guest artists during the 2012 series. By that we mean artist friends who will do an “official” DF&F 52 image along with us for one (or more) week(s). We already have a few ideas, and will be piteously begging politely querying a few friends soon. We hope that there is enough interest to make this aspect a reality, and we’ll post any info about guests if/when we get one/some.

*If you’re feeling up to it, combine it with a brown trout.

Drawing Fish & Flies 52 rainbow trout & Royal Wulff. It’s late…more later. For now, think tattoos and corroded plaster. Hardly the stuff of trout streams, but this is DF& 52 and anything goes! Well, now it’s early, but I’m up, so I might as well flesh this out.

The ‘bow and RW combo is a classic one in fishing (at least to me), and the first truly big ‘bow that I caught on a Royal Wulff I caught in New Zealand when I was 13. It was cool to be able to catch a fish of four pounds on a pattern, that until that time, had only caught smaller, small-stream trout for me. The fish above is a remembrance of that first RW-caught ‘bow. I don’t have a photo of that fish, but I do have a visual sense of it still in my head (especially the interesting jaw shape).

Notes: I had this idea rattling around in my head all week, but wasn’t 100-percent sure how I would execute it. When I sat down to paint, I went fast, probably faster than I should have. I was concerned about time, and ended up being through the image waaay early. I wasn’t satisfied with what I had (again, too fast), so I washed the image, wiped it and then instantly saw what I was going to do.

I dropped some thinned-out hues here and there, tossed the soaking wet thing onto my scanner, and got it into Photoshop before it had time to dry more than a few seconds. The wetness of the paper and the saturated colors were easy to enhance with a few adjustments, and I suddenly had what I really liked. The end result felt like a cross between a tattoo (thinking New Zealand Maori tattoos) and a corroded plaster wall (I just like that feel, it has nothing specific to do with trout fishing, other than perhaps reflecting the look of certain buildings in some places that I have been over the years).

Process: Pencil and watercolor on 140lb Canson stock. Washed and wiped, then re-painted and scanned into Photoshop. Image levels and saturation adjusted in Photoshop.

Available? No, this is an analog/digital hybrid, thus no true “original” exists. Kelley (my wife), however, loves this piece, and told me I should do several trout this way and offer the images as greeting cards. Something very different than the usual angling fare. I may consider that, especially if anyone else agrees….

JK’s Image: Jeff’s R&RW image can be found here. Really nice start, Jeff, and I see that the original is spoken for already!

GB’s early 1970s synthetic take-off of the Elk Hair Caddis is one of my own go-to patterns. It not only looks right and fishes right, but the synthetic aspect allows enormous color/texture variation. And as any red-blooded fly-tying geek knows, being able to mess around with colors and textures is one of the best things about fly tying!

Well, after a mere 40 years, GB has updated the pattern to version 2.0, with massive changes. Okay, so “massive” may not be the right term. Let’s go with “miniscule, but slick.” Basically, he went to a reverse-tied wing that also incorporates hackle reinforcement. I am a fan of reverse-tied wings, as much for the looks as for anything (hey, I’m a artist-type, so I go for the visual as much as the functional). I like the v2.0 end result. Still very easy to tie, still looks right (better, actually), and you can still customize the thing ad infinitum.

So is it startling? Cutting edge? Brilliantly innovative? Not at all. Just a basic, old-school pattern with a slick little update that moves it a bit more into the modern era. Sometimes that’s all you really need….

If you like polypropylene-based caddis patterns, I suggest you also check out the Rackelhanen, a Swedish pattern that pre-dated the Poly Caddis by several years. I am also fond of the design of Boström and Bergqvist’s Streaking Caddis, although it is a deer-hair pattern, not poly (it happens to be on the same page as the Rackelhanen, but lower down).

Whether abbreviated as “DF&F 52″ or just “DFF 52,” the 2012 art project that I’ll be working on with Jeff Kennedy will encompass the subject of our two previous years. Yes, 2012 is the year of Drawing Fish & Flies 52.

In other words, we’ll be doing both fish and flies this year, alternating between them as we see fit. Whether you liked the flies of 2010 or the fish of 2011, or both, you should find 2012 to cover all the bases.

For 2012, the previous “rules” still apply: Agree on a subject and draw, paint, sculpt, or otherwise create an image of that subject in 30 minutes max start-to-finish. The image doesn’t have to be literal, and indeed, it is the artistic interpretation that keeps things interesting.

There are some new things for DF&F 52, though: 1) We are doing both fish and flies, subject to what we agree on each week; 2) We are going to move the DF&F52 image posting to Saturdays; 3) We are going pre-announce the following week’s subject after we post an image each week. That’s so any readers who want to play along with the DF&F 52 project can do so. More about that later; 4) We are going to invite a few of our artist friends to participate with us on an occasional basis. Hopefully some will agree! More about that later, too.

So, coming up for Saturday, January 7, will be two images to kick off DF&F52: Rainbow Trout and Royal Wulff, a combo that Jeff and I felt was just about perfect.

Drawing Fish 52 silver trout (extinct). Wanted to end the year with a fish that exists now only in literature and in the eye of angling artists. I went with a fish that has some of the shape and color that I might imagine in a fine specimen, but also went with enough additional “olde tyme” look/feel that I can’t be accused of trying to render too faithful an imitation of a fish that I have never seen (and never will).

Notes: Pencil on metallic silver paper, scanned, and then applied the same type of Photoshop “paint” (with an added floral print) as with the last DF52 silver salmon.

Jeff’s silver trout is here. Nice way to end the year, and now on to DF&F 52….

Below is the first page (not yet proofed) in the color section of GB’s soon-to-be printed Long Flies book. To keep book prices in the “Fly Fishing” series consistent, we are printing color in single, large sections like this, versus scattered throughout the text. This can make things a bit tricky in terms of book layout, but we think that we’ll be able to make this work in the rest of the series where color is truly needed.

As I’m sure many of you know, we had hoped to have LF out by now. We got behind (correction, *I* got behind) in finishing up, so it will be printed in 2012. The next book in the series, The Angler as Predator, is already finished in terms of writing, and I’m into the edit next week. And, with the four, 2012-planned books being almost a mini-series within the larger overall series, we are hoping to get fully back on schedule by (next) year’s end.

In any case, here’s the page. There are 14 more like this one ready to go….

Drawing Fish 52 Aurora Trout. A very close relative of the brook trout, this little-known fish makes for some good painting opportunities. Went with a overly saturated aurora theme like week 49′s Greenland char. The colors and shapes of the fish flash and streak above a sparsely forested tundra foreground that surrounds a small lake.

Notes: Worked this out with charcoal and watercolor on Canson 140lb paper, then did the same Photoshoppery as with the Greenland char.

Jeff’s version will be here (we’re both late from last week).

Next up this week: the last DF52 image for the year, followed by an announcement about the 2012 DF52 project. For those of you who liked the flies of 2010, I think you’ll be pleased. For those of you who liked the fish of 2011, I think you’ll be pleased, too….

An alternate vision of the image, going more for a sense of night and reflection:

The delayed Friday Fish Fry from last week: “Tarpon Before the Storm.” This is a quick snap-shot of me videotaping a tarpon release in the northern Yucatan. Not long after this was taken, we realized that our 45-minute trip back to town had been bisected by the leading edge of a huge thunderstorm complex.

The first boat in our group ran the gauntlet before things got really bad, but the boat my father and I were in had to re-fuel before we could rev up. Within minutes of heading out we plowed right into a white, vertical wall of water, punctuated by lightning close enough to warm the air momentarily.

There have been a number times in my life when I’ve genuinely felt that I was in danger of being hit by lightning while fishing. This episode quickly moved to number one on that list! At one point, our guide had to stop the boat because the GPS went out and we literally couldn’t see more than a few dozen yards in any direction. Just sitting like that, on open water, under a storm of that magnitude, was one of the least enjoyable experiences of my life.

Without going into the rest of the story here, we did manage to get back to town, just in time for the rain and lightning to rev up yet another notch. By the next morning, though, the storm system had moved off and the tarpon were back in the shallows once again (and they were hungry).