In A Daydream

There is a song by The Freddy Jones Band called "In a Daydream".  It starts off like this:

Tuesday mornin' never looked so good / I'm already in, In a daydream... 

Well...it was actually this past Tuesday morning when I got a text from my buddy, we'll call him "The Forcer".  The text was no text at all, but rather this picture.  Enough said.  Daydreaming begin.....

The Forcer had just hooked into this beautiful Bone Fish on the fly down in Island of Andros in the Bahamas.  A yearly pilgrimage to Andros with The Forcer and a team of jackals, I have been on the invite list for many years, but have failed to make the trip.  I'm told this trip includes camping on the beach, drinking heavily, and slaying big bones.  Someone remind me again WHY I haven't joined?

The weather report calls for snow in the NorthEast this week and I am sitting at my desk in this "daydream".  As I flip through the text from The Forcer, an email literally floats into my inbox from another good friend, we'll call this one "Dr. J".  This email contains only the picture below:

One might assume, these are two friends of mine who are on a trip together.  One would be wrong.  They have never met, and are on two separate trips.  Dr. J is in Islamorada.  While I sit. At my desk.  In A Daydream. 

Freddy Jones Band, Vail 11/21/09

Tuesday mornin'

never looked so good

I'm already in

In a daydream

The sun is shinin'

It's here to wake me up

No one around

Just me and the sky

I'm already in

In a daydream

The sky is callin'

It's callin' out my name

Telling me just to stay

Stay, don't go away

And a breeze is blowin'

Blowin' across my face

Well I just don't know where

But I wish I could be there

Just for a little while

I'm already in

In a daydream

Fishing Jones - Profiles My Painting for Blog Post

Pete McDonald's blog Fishingjones.com describes being "done in by a professional" drinker.

Open Access in Winter

Hunkered down for the winter, I thought this would be a nice subject.   

I imagined that beyond this old gate lies a nice trout stream waiting to be discovered.  This is the kind of spot that requires some whisky running through your blood to keep warm. 

I found this photo on flickr.com by a photographer and artist Allison Ryder .  The photo was accompanied by this Poem:

"i'm tired" thought the fence ~ winter fence friday {Explore}

In the mountains through and around,
along the road here's what i found.
a fence so old
it could no longer stand.

The snow came down warm and hard
settling itself on wood and barb.
it whispered "my dear tired fence,
let me lay with you, you’re not alone."

Sighing deep the fence let go
Leaning now against the snow.
resigned but happy
a fence no more.~ Allison Ryder

It's a Brown Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

This beautiful Brown Trout was caught by an angler I found on Reddit.com named TroutHockey.  He posted this in the Fly Fishing category and I thought it was a perfect pose.  Caught in the in the Catskills of NY on an elk hair caddis.  I'd take some of this over turkey.  Anyone eating some trout tomorrow??

Trout Hunters Escape the Bear!

I got a call from my father a few weeks ago letting me know that our dear friend Rich Paini had been attacked by what he thought was a Grizzly Bear and the details we had thus far were sketchy.  My heart sank.  Rich and his friend Jon Stiehl had been out for a morning Elk hunt and they were attacked.  I immediately thought of the last time I saw Rich, at his wedding on the banks of the Henry's Fork River in Island Park, Idaho at his Fly Fishing Lodge "Trout Hunter". 

It was a gorgeous day.  When my family and I showed up to attend the wedding there was a sign on the fly shop door that said something to the effect that the wedding ceremony and reception were going to be starting late because Rich was out fishing. 

As Jon explains in this TroutHunt.com update, I'm happy to report that Rich and Jon made it out alive, although Rich had some pretty severe battle wounds to take home with him.  Jon explains:

I heard Rich yell “BEAR!”  By the time I was able to get out my pepper spray, Rich and a very large dark bear with a buff face came flying into view. The bear was 3/4's erect and Rich had managed to stick up his right arm to protect his face. The bear clamped down on it and threw Rich to the ground, completely breaking his right arm below the elbow.  It looked like a hit from an NFL Linebacker. Rich thrust his left arm and recurve bow towards the bear's face in an attempt to free himself.  The bear chomped that hand splintering the arrows in the bow quiver in the process. I ran to the collision just in time to fire off a cloud of pepper spray at the bear's huge ass and watch it tear off into the woods.

A broken arm and missing ring finger later, Rich is home and recovering.  I look forward to visiting the TroutHunter Lodge in the next few years to hear the story in person.  I'll be purchasing some pepper spray before I go.

Click the picture to visit TroutHunt.com and see their Fly Shop, Lodge and Guide Service:




TroutHunt

 

A Cutthroat Battle

"Flies, and Their Lawyers, Keep Rare Trout From Going Home"  By JUSTIN SCHECK of the WSJ.com

Restoring the Fish to California Creek Could Harm a Bug's Life; Cutthroat Battle



California Department of Fish and Game



MARKLEEVILLE, Calif.—North America's rarest trout has human allies who want to give it back its ancestral home.But the fish face an obstacle to their homecoming: bug advocates.

Federal and state game officials want to restore the Paiute cutthroat trout to the range scientists believe it occupied for many millennia—a nine-mile stretch of the Silver King Creek in the Sierra Nevada wilderness.

Yet there are also bugs in those waters—bugs that insect advocates say will be threatened by the fish fans' proposal...More After The Jump

Sapphire

Bombay Sapphire - Recipe of 10 ingredients:  Almond, lemon peel, liquorice, juniper berries, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb, and grains of paradise.

Watercolor on coldpress paper 9x12

The name hints at the origins of the gin's popularity in the India of the days of the British Raj and the sapphire in question is the Star of Bombay on display at the Smithsonian Institution.  Bombay Sapphire is marketed in a flat-sided, sapphire-coloured bottle that bears a likeness of Queen Victoria on the label.

Native Feathers

A deviation of subject for me, "Native Feathers" was an interesting process. I haven't been focused on portraits or the figure in a long time, but will continue to challenge myself as I find subjects that move me.  I'd like to say the feathers in her hair pheasant tail for all of the fly fishing enthusiasts out there, and could probably make good materials for a tying a nymph.  Anyway, I've been inspired by the style of artist Michael Shapcott  His work is amazing and I wanted to be able to capture a similar mood.

Watercolor on cold press - 11" x 15"

As I worked on this painting, I didn't know what to expect.  I continually loosened up my style as I progressed through the different stages.  I think the most important aspect is the mood that the eyes create.  She has a look that I can not explain.  So, here she is.  Hopefully, I'll continue to challenge my style and bring more pieces like this to the stage.