I’m sort of hooked (no pun intended) on Sportsman Art of late. I really enjoy doing these little paintings. This one is all watercolor without the typical ink embelishments I usually add.
This fellow is enjoying an early fall day of fly fishing. “Drifting The Ant” refers to the tactic he has chosen to employ. When fly fishing, one pays attention to the insects in the stream and the hatching insects floating above it. Once they are identified, a similar “fly” is tied on the leader and gracefully launched toward those places in the stream where trout tend to reside.
The insects in the stream, hoppers, inchworms, ants, etc., tend to fall in from the trees and banks beside the stream. Thus they are referred to as “terrestrials”. Once in the water, they float a little then sink. Not long after that, they are eaten by a trout.
So, drifting an ant down stream, near a trout of course, is a way to fool the trout into taking the hook. The ant is fabricated, tied by hand onto the hook using thread and assorted other stuff to make it look as real as possible.
It’s not as easy as it reads. Trout are wary creatures. It requires a good amount of skill, knowledge and patience to catch a wild trout. But, once you determine what type of insect they are hungry for, terrestrial or dry fly, they can be caught (and released) in numbers.
And that makes for an enjoyable day of fly fishing. Heck, even if you don’t land a trout, the opportunity to wade or float a cool stream, eat a good sandwich, and commune with nature, makes it all worthwhile.
4 Comments
“the opportunity to wade or float a cool stream, eat a good sandwich, and commune with nature, makes it all worthwhile”
Amen! And I don’t even fish!
I don’t fish as much as I’d like to r.e.
Hey, Don. Great picture. And I respect your resistance to the ink embellishments, as I have been attempting such things myself at times lately. I’m always curious: did you work from life or a photo? If you worked from life, can you share details of how you went about capturing what you wanted?
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the comments! I actually did this one from a photograph. I changed it a bit, leaving out some of the rocks and boulders. I created a “fall look” too. The original photo was from mid-summer and everything was green.
This really isn’t a “sketch”. It’s more a painting. I say that because of the time involved and the pondering.
If I were going to do this from life, I’d just sit and study the fisherman with a sketchbook in hand. I’d try to capture the gestures and body movements and develop a “pose” from that. Once I had that down, I’d sketch the scene, maybe even without the figure. Then, time allowing, I’d put it down in watercolor on site. If not, back at home or the office, I’d work from the sketches and memory. And hey, a camera doesn’t hurt for reference images too
Even on site, I would likely have changed the color scheme to fall or spring. These stream scenes are kind of bland in the dead of summer at mid day.
I wish I had time to get out to the streams more and sketch (fishing too!) In the fall, I’m going to make the time
I’ve got a short vacation coming up and I’ll be doing some “live” stuff on that trip. Plein Aire would be the proper term I suppose. We’ll see how that goes
I have to tell you though, like you, I really like pen and watercolor. I think I’m gonna concentrate on that and quit flitting about. That’s what we artists do though isn’t? A fellow I met, who runs an annual artist convention, told me that organizing artists is like herding cats. They just go whatever direction they please.
Post a Comment