Young Redband Rainbow

The Redband rainbow is an important species here in Oregon. The Redband Trout that inhabit the Deschutes river are known for their tremendous strength, pound for pound the hardest fighting trout. This is a painting in a series of small fish most like the ones I usually catch.

Quick Chum Study

Chumtastic

Last week I had the opportunity to drift one of Oregon's best chum fisheries the Kilchis river, with my friends Don, Dennis and Ed. We had a great time hooking lots of fish and landing a few.
The chum may be considered the ugliest salmon but I find them strangely beautiful.

Don with the pontoons in a brief down pour


Don with his first Chum of the day

My first Chum
Dennis with a nice fresh buck

Scanning the flats

I decided to take a small break from painting trout and try my hand at a seascape. This was painted from the photo on the cover of the Kaufman's catalog.
9x12 Watercolor and ink

Rainbow upclose #1

Here is a painting of a rainbow trout up close and personal. Here I am trying to capture the complex coloring of the gill plate while keeping the painting loose and utilizing the qualities of watercolors. I did another very similar painting " Rainbow Upclose #2" which is being auctioned in my firm's United Way fund raiser along with 2 more of my paintings.

Green Back Cutthroat Study (Not Available)

The Greenback (native to Colorado currently on the "threatened list") is one of my favorite sub-species of Cutthroat. I like the concentration of spots neat the caudal fin and its intense colors.

Soon I will need to make a trip to Colorado for an opportunity to meet this beautiful trout in person.

this Painting is being auctioned for a United Way fundraiser being held in my Office .

St Johns + Art

I have recently had the opportunity to show my paintings in a community art show. The charming North Portland neighborhood of St. Johns is promoting it's downtown by having local artist display their work in storefronts along the main street. I have several trout paintings in the storefront of Champs Barbershop (A great place to watch college football and get a haircut) I was surprised to find this morning an article about the show in the Oregonian featuring my painting "Stuck in the Middle With You".

Sokeye? yes please

This is my first salmon painting I have attempted. Living in the great Northwest where salmon are such an important part of the culture it seemed important to start painting some. I choose the Sockeye due to their intense spawning colors, sockeye are also my favorite salmon to eat, Sockeye? yes please.

Stuck in the middle with you

This painting is very similar to "Amongst Friends" I like that one so much I decided to paint one larger and better for myself (Amongst Friends will be auctioned off at the AIA art show if you are interested) I like the idea of a Big mean brown trout being stuck in the middle of a school Rainbows. This is what this trying to depicting.



Here is an zoomed in portion of the painting, I painted the fish in the background with less detail to try to add depth to the painting, I think it worked.

Amongst Friends

In the same spirit of "Free Lovin" this painting is promoting peace between trout.
This was done for the AIA art show, I did not like the one I previously painted for the show.

Free Lovin

This painting is a commission for my friend Emily and Sanjay we thought it would be fun to have a painting depicting peace and love among different trout species.

Rainbow Study

Its been a while since I have painted a rainbow so here is a quick study of a Rainbow, I hope you like it.

2 small browns a study (not available)

Here is a quick study of 2 browns, I am continuing my effort to loosen up my painting (a couple simple time lagers can help with this endeavor), I also was experimenting with the color pallet.

I Love Watercolors

There is nothing like coming home from a tedious day at work, opening up a can of "Simple Times Lager" and throwing some paint around. This is a glimse of a painting I am working on for a friend and the brown trout study in the background.

Waterproof Membrane

This is a painting I did for an AIA art show, featuring art by architects. I was told that the art does not need to be architecture related. This painting features 3 different views of a rainbow. It is the first time I have drawn a trout from above and from underneath. This was an idea I got from looking at some various science illustrator's websites I like how scientific illustrators convey information with very detailed and accurate paintings. Don't mistake this paint for an accurate representation of trout anatomy, the bone structure is merely an artistic representation.

Reflections on Brown

Fishermen tend to be a reflective bunch, perhaps it is all the time we spend on the water not catching fish it gives one time to think over life's tough mysteries such as; where are all the big trout that live in this river? Fish have a tendency to be reflective too, not the way fishermen reflect but rather a literal reflecting especially while under the water. Here is a Brown trout doing some reflecting. I tried to capture this reflective quality of a trout under water with the risk of it looking like it had been whipped with a fly rod. I think it came out alright, despite the fact I went a little crazy on the background.

Watercolor 9"x11" limited edition print of 50 - $50

Dance of the Brookies

This painting was inspired by my recent backpacking trip, where I learned more about my friend the Brook trout. The Brook trout seems to be a very fun loving fish, always
frolicking about the lake jumping without a care in the world. Their variety of festive colors are also fun and what makes them one of my favorite fish to paint.

In this painting I tried to loosen up, paint faster and let the watercolors do their thing. Letting colors run together sometimes gives unexpected results, but thats the beauty of watercolors.

Watercolor 15x22 Limited print of 50 - $75

Back Packing Mt. Jefferson

Just Got back from a Awesome 2 night backpacking trip with my father Ed and friend Les.

We hiked to some lakes on the southwest side of Mount Jefferson. The scenery was some of the best I have seen so far in Oregon. The fishing in the small lakes was alright for small brookies, I did however manage to catch one over 12" not bad for a high mountain Brookie, at least in these lakes.

Release the Brown Trout

This is another watercolor where I experimented with the background and worked in a subtle reflection off the water. I do not like paintings where the background visually overpowers the trout, so I kept the colors of the water toned down with not much detail to keep the attention on the trout. I was also experimenting using maskit to create it a "halo" around the black spots, this technique still needs some work but I like the affect this will be very helpful for brook trout.
(You might notice the stray caudal fin on the left side of the painting, not sure what I was thinking this started out as more of a sketch and then turned into a painting)

Water Color 9X12" limited print of 50 - 75$ contact me if you are interested in the original

Free Rainbow

I have been working on my watercolor technique trying to better utilize the qualities of watercolors.
This is a Rainbow trout not one that I caught (I never catch trout this big) but a image from a NW Fly Fishing magazine.
Watercolor 9X12" Limited Print of 50 - 75$

Beneath the Rapids

This is one of the first trout paintings that I have ever done way back in High School. Unlike most my paintings where the focus is on the details of the fish this painting tries to capture the subject's environment. The water reflections on the Trout's back really harmonizes it with its surroundings, I was reluctant to paint the reflections at first for fear of ruining the trout but my art teacher convinced me to do it and I am glad I did.

19" x24" Water Color, Limit Print of 50 - $125

Lahontan Cutthroat

This is a water color of a juvenile Lahontan Cutthroat trout . I have not caught one of these yet but hopefully I will someday.

9"x12" water color limit print of 50 - 50$

My Favorite Trout that's not a Trout

Here is a painting of the Brook Trout my wife caught at rock lakes. The Brook trout is one of my favorites even though it's not really a trout but a Char. I love the brook trout's intense colors the bright orange/red belly and the dark green almost black back. The Brook trout's yellow spots however pose a challenge when painting it, next time I will use a "maskit" for the spots. I am also not too happy with the head its a little strange but over all its a decent rendering of the fish.

9"x 12" Water Color, Limit print of 50 = 50$

Rock Lake Brook

This is a nice Brook Trout that my wife caught on a backpacking trip to Rock Lakes ( I am holding it in the picture her hands are not that manly). Rock lakes is a small group of lakes south of Mount Hood about 2 hours from Portland. I normally practice catch and release but when it comes to eating dehydrated noodles or fresh trout after hiking 5 miles I choose the unlucky brooky.

"The perch swallows the grub-worm, the pickerel swallows the perch, and the fisher-man swallows the pickerel; and so all the chinks in the scale of being are filled" - Thoreau, Walden Pond

Average Rainbow for an Average fisherman

I love fishing, but I will admit that I am an average fisherman at best. I hope I am better at painting fish than I am at catching them. This is a painting of the typical rainbow the type I might catch on a typical day fly fishing the streams in the Oregon Cascades, some photos of which I will post later. If you like this "Average Rainbow" e-mail me and I can sell you a limited edition print.

Water Color, 9x12"