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Private Collection
The summer of 2012 was filled with a lot of camping and a little bit of fly fishing. The camping includes grandkids these days, and it is not easy to get away to get a line wet. Yet, I hadn't given up, and when we took the grandkids to one of our favorite fishing and camping sites in the high San Juan Mountains of western Colorado I finally caught a break. We had a weekend of camping, and I elected to stay in camp by myself when everyone else had to get back to civilization. I was fishing a high mountain stream and decided to take a beer break. As I was sitting on this nice rock stream side, I looked down and saw the reflections coming off the stream where my feet were implanted. I took a couple of photos and thought nothing about it until the image came up in my screen saver. It caught my eye, and this is the painting based on thar photo.
Private Collection
The year 2004 found me floating through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River in western Colorado. There were some pretty exciting times with the white water. Yet, we managed to find time for casting a fly, cooking a gourmet dinner, and sipping a few libations. At the tail end of the trip, my nephew Todd hooked this big Rainbow, and I had the opportunity to work with several of the photos for this painting.
Private Collection
This is a painting of my nephew Todd. We were fishing the Rio Grande River in southern Colorado when it came up a pretty hard thundershower. Todd was hiding under a thick pine tree and changing flies. The fishing was pretty slow and after the rain stopped, we continued to fish upriver. The clouds were off and on--we kept fishing. After about a mile, we got close to our cutoff to the truck--I was out in the river trying to entice a trout with a nymph while Todd was sitting on the bank--again changing flies. The next thing I knew, a bright flash screamed across the sky and a clap of thunder cracked. I jumped out of the river and headed to the bank in a good run--Todd jumped up and started running--but there wasn't any shelter to be had. We stopped and looked around--nothing to be done at that point. I wish someone would have been filming the whole thing--it would have been funny.
$1,000
This is a painting of my oldest son Mike fishing on Lee's Ferry. This is a magnificent tail water with numerous Rainbows holding everywhere you look. Besides the great fishing, the scenery can take your breath away. I wanted to do this painting because of background cliffs and nice reflections in the water.
"Pow Wow On The Gunnisonf"
Private Collection
Mike and Josh, my two sons, are always plotting ways for us to get together for some fly fishing. The early part of September 1998, Mike my oldest, was doing some fishing on the Gunnison River in Colorado, and heard they were going to drop the water level at the end of September and that the fishing was going to be excellent. He happened to be visiting after that trip, so we immediately got on the phone to Josh--to schedule a fly fishing trip. It wasn't long until we had the schedule set, airline reservations made, and rafts reserved. The first day we floated from the bottom of the Black Canyon to our camp and then the second day to our pick-up point. This painting is from the second day--about a quarter mile below camp--we were getting out of the rafts in preparation for some serious fly fishing. It is Tom Lombardi (one of Mike's friends) in the foreground, Josh sitting on the raft, and myself working with the rope in the upper left.
$300
A portion of the Gunnison River in Western Colorado is designated as a gold medal fly water (catch and release). This river is located near the town where I grew up (Delta, Colorado). When I was a child--there weren't many trout in this river except higher up the river--not the particular stretch I'm talking about--but several dams have made this a great tailwater. This summer (1998) I spent many days wading and fishing. You catch both Rainbows and Browns. This painting is representative of the many Browns that came my way.
$300
About the middle of May (1998) my two sons planned a fly fishing expedition to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River below the Glen Canyon Dam. Fishing off of a gravel bar not too far from our camp, I noticed that the rainbows like to swim downriver from you--picking up any manner of good food that you kick up. I pulled out my waterproof camera and took a number of photos. This painting was from those photos.
Private Collection
Some people have commented that fly fishing is a religious experience. I don't know about that, but there is nothing like the thrill of hooking into a great big Rainbow. You catch several of this size in rapid succession, and I guarantee your arm will start getting tired. They like to head for the current and take off down river while you're praying that they will stop before all the backing is out of your reel.
Private Collection
Last spring (March 1997) my youngest son Josh was home visiting for a few days. March can be pretty stormy in Utah, but one day turned sky blue--although it wasn't overly warm. Josh and I decided to run up to the Black Smith Fork near Logan, Utah, for some fishing. It was too early in the year to expect much in the way of a hatch--there was still a good bit of snow on the ground, so we spent the previous evening tying up some Prince Nymphs. Arriving on the Black Smith, we found a place to park where the snow wasn't too deep and proceed to rig up. With a moment on my hands, I took a photo of Josh standing behind the Tahoe, pulling his fly rod from its case. That photo was near my painting table for most of a year while I thought about a painting. This is what resulted.
Private Collection
The summer of 1998 will be with me for a long time. It was a time of great sadness (my mother-in-law passed away from an accident) and great happiness (my youngest son got married). I spent a lot of time fly fishing, by myself, with my sons, and with my brother. We fished the San Miguel, Canejos, and Gunnison Rivers in southwestern Colorado. This painting is from a photo I took of my oldest son Mike, pounding water and looking for an elusive Rainbow. The painting title refers to one of the great Dutch oven recipes that we cooked up on our trip to the Canejos River.
Private Collection
The continuing saga of fly fishing paintings. This is the fourth in the series. Right now, I'm starting to run out of subjects, and rather than rehash plowed ground, I think I will put things on hold until my fly fishing trip to the Colorado River in June. I'm sure my sons will be glad to act as models for a few days. I only hope I can make myself put down the fly pole and do some sketching and photo taking..
$300
When I was growing up, the first day of fishing season was a major event. My Dad, Mom, brother and I would head to Surface or Milk Creek for a day of fishing. I think that was where I got intrigued with the rushing water in a mountain stream. It doesn't take much to get me to on to another stream painting.
Private Collection
There is nothing like being outdoors in the national forest, camping and doing a little fly fishing. This image is from a camping and fly fishing trip I took with my brother to Woods Lake near Telluride, Colorado. We had some great fly fisihng and lived through the thunder storm from Hell one night.
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