Brook Trout

Here is one more to complete the set. My Son said that the fish looked depressed so I repainted the head, this is the repainted version. I think he looks better.

Fish sketches

With spring break right around the corner and snow still falling here in Tetonia, I have an itch that must be scratched. We are planning a fishing trip on the Colorado river in the sun and warm red rock cliffs. Fish are on my mind, in between tying flies for the trip and getting gear ready, I can't help myself by not painting a few fish as well. I really like this quick sketchy process and how it looks, the spontaneity is something I crave but is hard to work into illustrations done for clients. I think I am going to print these to see how they might look on the wall of my studio.

Too much fun

Here is another sketch using same technique, this is so fun to work this way I can see doing a bunch of work for some of my clients. Just what I need, another hobby... oh yea this is my job...

Sketch of Brown Trout

For some reason today I find myself in the mood to sketch a little. I really like drawing and messing around with different techniques in photoshop, I came across some ps notes from days gone by and started fiddling with process, I made this sketch and started to paint a little, fast and furious. I like the look of this sketch, it was great fun to just do something for fun... kind of ironic. Maybe I will do a series of fish in this style, look for them soon.

How to shoot a quail flush

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to do an illustration showing how to shoot a covey of flushing  quail, having never hunted quail I was in  a bit of a quandary. The editor filled me in on all the details and what he wanted to see in the illustration. I went through the regular routine of sketching and composing what I thought would make a good painting. The result is here for you to see. I love this sort of project, It seems I don't get to paint too many hunting scenes these days and I miss them. The painting turned out, for the most part,  how I planned it,  there are always happy accidents that happen along the way that improve things, I call it "controlled spontaneity" the light is interesting, the color does its job and the characters look natural and like they belong in the painting. All in all I am pleased with the painting. I'm going to try to do more work like this, When I started out as an illustrator I did a lot of outdoor sporty sort of illustrations then sort of migrated away from them for other work. Now that I am older and a bit more selective I want to return from whence I came... at least I hope so.

Here is the painting.