flyartist

"Migratory Ink Fly" Ink and water on bond paper. I grabbed a paintbrush and loaded it with plain water and just started painting. No guides just plain water on the paper. After I finished, I dropped ink in at the hook eye. It was the coolest thing to watch the migrate through the water to all parts of the fly. I will have to do this again and shoot a video of the process. View the full article

"Alewife Spey Quick Sketch" Sharpie on bond paper. Life has kept me away from the computer the past few days. I have not stopped drawing the flies though. This is Sunday's post and the day that went with it: Alarm goes off at 4:55 a.m. Get clothes on and jump in the truck to head to my fishing buddy Corey's house. Head out to Milwaukee River for steel head fishing at 6:00 a.m. Weather conditions: Air temp 33 degrees F, snow flurries, gusty winds. Water temp 46 degrees F. perfect steelhead weather! Meet up with two guys from our club to instruct them on spey casting. Corey lands a nice buck steelhead on an Alewife Spey. 15 minutes later, I land a buck steelhead on an Alewife Spey. Eat lunch. Fish the rest of the afternoon until dark. Chip ice off of guides. Get home around 7:30 p.m. Hang waders, clean gear. Eat dinner. Shower. draw fly. Go to bed. What a great day! This pattern mimics the alewife bait fish that the steelhead feed on during the Summer in Lake Michigan. The patter was developed by A fantastic tier and fisherman named Jon Ulenhope from Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters. You will see a nice painted version of this fly in the upcoming weeks. You can see the tube pattern in the pictures. My version varies from Jon's in that I added the jungle cock nails. View the full article

"Deep Sparkle Pupa" Gouache on Moleskine. A great Gary LaFontaine pattern. View the full article

"Partridge and Orange" Gouache in my Moleskine sketchbook. View the full article

"Rubber leg Black Stone Nymph" Moleskine sketchbook amd gouache. This one was suggested by Robin Roberts. View the full article

"Jock O' Dee" Gouache in Moleskine sketchbook. I liked yesterdays so I tried it again. I like the shape of this Dee fly so I grabbed the brush and started painting. To learn more about Moleskin sketchbooks, click here. View the full article

The winner for this months print is................Sarah Sanford! I will send you an email with all of the details. Congrats Sarah! View the full article

" Ally's Shrimp" Gouache in my Moleskin sketchbook. Great traditional steelhead pattern. View the full article

"Sunkist Emerger" Sepia pen and watercolor in sketchbook. Another from the Hatches Magazine. View the full article

"Buzz Kill" Sepia pen in sketch book. Cool looking pattern I found in the latest Hatches Magazine. View the full article

"Bunyan Bug Sketch" From the sketchbook on Saturday. A quick study for a future painting. View the full article

I was busy and away from the computer this weekend. I will post the weekend flies later today. View the full article

"Pumpkin Fly" H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N! View the full article

"Corey's Fox Wing Spey" Watercolor and Gouache - This is a steelhead pattern my fishing buddy Corey devised. This pattern has a great arctic fox wing that looks fantastic in the water. This painting does not do the actual fly justice, but it was my best attempt for the day. View the full article

"Paper Fly" I was emptying the three hole punch and I ended up making a mess! The way the punches were laying on the floor next to the recycle can kind of resembled a fly. I guess after 302 flies everything looks like a fly! Anyways, I grabbed some of the spent punches and some shredded paper and this was the result. View the full article

"BBQ Fly" BBQ sauce on counter. My wife had suggested this one while I was making dinner. I was really tempted to lick the sauce off of the counter! View the full article

Ron from Rock Creek Cattle Company sent me his connected the dots fly. Those who tried it found that I had some numbering problems between 191 and 199. I think my eyes were going a bit crazy by then. Anyways, here is the note that Ron sent: It’s a slow day at the office. Temps here in Montana cooling off considerably, no body booked on a fishing trip today so I was perusing the 365 site and said to myself, “Self, here is something you just got to dot.†Thanks for the busy work. I spent several minutes looking for 191 through 199 but. Too funny." View the full article

Original and prints available. Email me for details. "Halloween Spey" 14" x 12" Watercolor and gouache. Tis the season! View the full article

I took inventory of the completed flies over the weekend and found I was 6 short. Well I made up for the shortage and believe I am now up to date. View the full article

"Bad Eggs" Watercolor and gouache. This is probably one of the worst flies that I have painted. Overworked, bad proportions and dull colors. I just overworked this one. I had a hard time loosing up. View the full article

"Typewriter Fly" Digital - Does anyone have one of these any more? I grew up with these, but I got rid of it when I got rid of my eight track player. View the full article

"Dandelion Emerger" Charcoal and watercolor. This was an experiment. I started drawing with the charcoal. I then sprayed the charcoal with a fixative so that it would not smear or lift when I applied a watercolor wash. I have never fished these emergers, but they look like they would be an effective midge emerger. View the full article

"Dry Fly on Water Tattoo" This was a request from Nichole. She would like to have a tattoo of a fly for her ankle. Nothing like a dry fly sitting on the surface waiting for a take. View the full article

"Toaster Strudel Fly" Icing on toaster strudel - Occasionally my kids will eat these at breakfast. We have a box that neither of the kids will eat. I believe it is blueberry, anyway I pulled one out, toasted it up and iced it with a fly. View the full article

Original and prints are available, email me for the details. "Bead Head San Juan Worm" 10" x 10" Watercolor and gouache. Alright I can hear the moans already. But I could not resist the temptation to ad this to the DF 365 collection! View the full article