flyartist

"NIFT Royal Wulff Streamer" Watercolor and Gouache. For our last tying meeting of the year, I painted this fly in front of our group. I described what was going through my head as I painted and gave a little "art lesson" to my fellow club members. After the painting was completed and the painting was auctioned off with the proceeds going to the club to help fund our clubs educational activities. This was an extremely enjoyable event for me and I hope it was just as rewarding for my fellow club members. Mike J. was the lucky recipient of the auction.Thanks go out to Corey and Ed for the photography and recording of the event. View the full article

This is Part 2 in the series illustrating the steps I go through to paint my flies. For those who receive the feed, click to view the video. View the full article

"Dec's Tragoprawn" Watercolor and Gouache. I would like to get out West to try swinging a few of these for steelhead someday. Hope you enjoy the painting sequence . View the full article

Original is SOLD "Red Quill" Watercolor and gouache. I have fooled many a trout in the driftless area with this fly. Part 2 of the video series illustrates how the background for this painting was done. Stay tuned for that posting. View the full article

"Red Quill Sketch" Did this all time favorite with an 8B pencil in the Moleskine sketchbook. This is a reference sketch for a painting. I do not paint from photos. I will paint from my sketches. It helps to keep me loose and impressionistic. View the full article

"Rusty Rat Digital" This is the first in a series of 4 digital illustrations that were created for the cover art of "Broken Tippet" magazine. This magazine is produced by the folks of FlyFusion magazine. My Canadian friend Pacres (Darren) at the Daily Fly Paper is helping to head up the magazines efforts. View the full article

From time to time I come across fellow artists and anglers that I would like readers of this blog to be exposed to. Jon Waske is one of those artists. As Jon puts it, "I am an avid flyfisherman and artist who spends as much time as possible trying to perfect both hobbies. I enjoy tying flies, fishing streams, drawing and painting." So drop by his site and browse the great selection of painted works. View the full article

"Glue Fly" Hot glue on illustration board. I have a number of hot glue sticks that are used for making eggs patterns laying around in the tying materials inventory. I decided to put them to use in a different manner. This fly was created for for American Angler magazine and appeared in the "Headwaters" section of the September/October 2008 issue. View the full article

"Copper Bob 2" Gouache on Canson paper. This is another attempt at the Copper Bob by Bob White. I have been stacked up with regular work these past few weeks. It is unusual to be so busy this time of year especially with the way the economy is going right now. I am thankful to have so much work. I will try to get the rest of this weeks posts up soon. View the full article

"Winters Hope Sketch and Video" This is part 1 in a series documenting the process I go through to paint my flies. For those who read the FeedBurner emails, click here to watch the You Tube video. Or you can go to the blog to watch the video. Recording the videos is new to me, so I hope they improve as I go. I found it hard to sketch in front of the camera. Which is strange, because I sketch and draw in front of people all the time. Stay tuned for Part 2. I tried to post this on Sunday, but there were difficulties uploading the video to You Tube. Better a bit late than never. View the full article

"Rusty Rat" Charcoal on pastel paper. Still experimenting with minimal charcoal application to achieve a desired look. View the full article

"Saltwater BF" Charcoal on pastel paper. Simple and minimal rendition. View the full article

"Red Quill" Pastel Pencil and watercolor. View the full article

"No Name Gouache Fly" I tried some gouache from a different manufacturer on this fly. I like the colors and the way they apply to the paper. With this fly all I did was grab a piece of watercolor paper, a brush and the gouache and started painting. No reference or particular fly in mind. Just let my hand eyes and mind go to work. View the full article

"Chocolate Wet" Chocolate syrup on a dinner plate. Inspiration for flies can hit at any time. I was at a clients office working today when some bad weather rolled in. It was raining in the morning, turning to sleet in the afternoon and eventually snow at the rush hour. Normally this drive takes 45 minutes. tonight it too a little over 2 hours. A good portion of the ride I was behind a truck. On the back of the truck was a graphic of a pile of ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. Well, after staring at the image for a while, it got me thinking about today's fly. Have you ever been at an upscale restaurant and ordered desert? The desert would be served with some type of sweet sauce drizzled on the plate along with the desert item. Well, this is what a fly fisherman's desert would look like. By the way, after I created the fly, the series of photos following show what the fly looked like after I licked the plate! The first lick actually created a nice wing effect! Obviously this original is SOLD. My stomach and taste buds enjoyed the original art. View the full article

"Paper Streamer" I pulled out the X-acto blade and some paper and free form cut this fly out of the paper. View the full article

"Ink and Water Fly 2" Tried another one. View the full article

"Water and Ink Fly 1" I shot a video of the process of a fly I created a while back. I did this by accident when I created the first fly. The way this works is I paint the fly with clean water on the paper. I then drop in ink and watch the way the ink flows into the created form. I cannot see much when I am doing this. Basically going by feel only and looking at the sheen on the paper. View the full article

"Korey Strut Spey" Watercolor and gouache. This is Friday's fly. This fly is dedicated to Karen D. for her Birthday. Happy Birthday Karen! View the full article

"Business End" Graphite on Moleskine. This is Thursdays fly post. Things this week have been crazy! View the full article

"BWO RPE (reverse parachute emerger)" Watercolor and Gouache. I had received an email from Roy Christie a few months back concerning the reverse parachute sketch I did back in August. Roy is the originator of many reverse parachute fly designs. You can see his Photostream here. A couple of days ago he sent an image of his BWO RPE. The shape and colors were so striking that I had to paint it! This is Roy's comment on the fly: "You can, if you wish, draw my reversed parachute emerger. I tie these up to imitate all surface hatching mayflies and midges, the idea being that the hook will pull the tippet through the surface. So degrease the tippet, grease the hackle and you get a clean image on a flat surface the moment the fly lands on the water. This is a very effective presentation. Thanks again for your daily drawings. Roy Christe, an Irishman in London UK View the full article

The winner for the last print drawing is..... Dave C. (vtfly). Congrats Dave, I will send you an email with the details. I would like to thank everyone who sent in suggestions. They were all great and I wish I could get to all of them. Things are a bit busy here these days, but I will soon be posting a number of announcements concerning the blog and what is in store for next year. Stay tuned. View the full article

"No Name Skunk" Graphite on Moleskine. Just a quick one for today. My day job has me constantly running! View the full article

"USK Grub" Gouache in my Moleskine. I was reading my Dec Hogan "Passion for Steelhead " book and past few evening and I came across this pattern. painted it up quick, to try to get the shape of the fly. The real fly is much better looking than this version. You can read about the history of the fly in this must have steelhead book! View the full article

I will be picking the last winner for the Drawing Flies 365 free print on Wednesday. If you have a fly to suggest, get your name in now to enter the final raffle! View the full article