Fishing Flies have always been appealing to me. Since I was a young girl when my brother and I would go fishing with my grandfather. Then, after a day of fishing, grandpa would fry up our catch of the day. Ummm the thought brings back memory's of smells and tastes I haven't been able to reproduce in all my cooking years. Those evenings, my brother and I would then entertain ourselves for hours tying fishing flies and talking about which fly would catch the biggest fish.
Now, I prefer to paint the fishing flies.
Almost always when people (especially men) see my fishing fly watercolors they seem to be surprised and want to know how I came to paint them. They are always a conversation starter. I started painting the flies after I'd done a series of 6 different trout. I had matted and framed the six trout all in one frame ....
but felt something else was needed along those same line to hang opposite them on a smaller wall. That's when I came up with the idea of painting fishing flies. It just seems so appropriate.
I had a few fishing flies to use as a reference but after water coloring them I wanted to find more to add to the series. I stopped by a very large sporting good store to
I found a few to purchase, left the store to continue on with the rest of my shopping list. All was going well until a young girl, in a loud voice said, "Momma, look, that lady has bugs on her arm". Sure enough, there on my right arm were some fishing flies that had attached them selves to my sweater sleeve as I reached across the multitude of fishing flies on display at the sporting goods store. I was so embarrassed ... not only that I had frightened the little girl, and had to explain to the child and mother what the "bugs" were doing on my arm, but that I had blatantly stolen the fishing flies.
And yet, to this day I still love to see and paint them.
Watercolor fishing flies from top to bottom: Royal Wulff, Sofa Pillow, Golden Stone, Muddler Minnow
Excellent!!They look like the real thing.
ReplyDeleteMy husband fly fishes and ties flies all the time. Hmm I will have to give this a try someday. Painting them that is.
These are so gorgeous--like little botanical illustrations. What a funny story too. How large are those paintings? I can picture a whole group of them framed and hanging together.
ReplyDeleteLove this series. Art within art.
ReplyDeleteOh Nancy! What a touching story as well as a splendid job on the flies! Just THINK of the evocative emotions and memories they provide!! BRAVA!
ReplyDeleteThanks Toni ... they really are fun to paint. And if I remember correctly they are a lot of fun to tie also.
ReplyDeleteJana each fly is aprox. 5" x 7". I do have three matted vertically in one frame.
Suzanne, hey, you are right. I didn't think of it that way. Cool.
Thanks Lin ... they were a great series to paint ... maybe partly it was because of the great memories.
You have taken the fishing fly to a different level, they are beautiful. It was lovely to read about the background.
ReplyDeleteI love your fishing flies!! they are beautiful. I've never done flyfishing, but it is a dream to do it one day. In the meantime, I admire all these beautiful fishing flies that people make. Yours is exquisite!
ReplyDeleteRonell
I really love your fishing flies series. They are exquisite little gems!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jafabrit, Dee, and Ronell. I think fly fishing ... just the scene of someone fly fishing is so neat. It reminds me of music flowing. The back and forth of the fishing line waiting to land in "the" spot.
ReplyDelete