Finally found our new floating art studio!
Well it has been a long search, but I am happy to say that after a quick 2 day hellride from New Hampshire to Maryland and back we have finally purchased our first sailboat to explore the ocean in. Her name is Sojourn and we think

Rainbow Trout Sketch in acrylic 6x8 abstract fish painting
Started working on this trout art and got to a point where I simply thought it said enough. So I decided to leave some of the sketch showing through with more finished areas and thought it made an interesting abstract of a trout eye and general shape. Up for auction for $100 to bid CLICK HERE

Roosterfish abstract daily fish painting tropical fly fishing art
Haven't painted a Roosterfish in awhile but then I havent seen one in awhile either. I first encountered these bruisers while fishing down in Costa Rica. With the exception of the teeth I find them with a lot of the same

Tarpon and fly Study 8x6" Tarpon painting in oil fish art daily painting
Tarpon Face study in oil with fly. This 6x8 colorful flyfishing art, fish art daily painting is now up for auction

SAVLEN ~ ORIGINAL BLUEFISH Daily Gamefish PAINTING Flyfishing Surf Fishing ART
As surf fishing season arrives I cannot stop thinking about the boiling waters and feeding frenzies of Bluefish and Stripers in new England. Fantastic time to get out the surf rod or fly rod and chase them down the beach. Bluefish are one of the craziest

Permit fish painting topwater flats fishing study daily painting
I have always been intrigued by the abstract liquid form and color when looking at a fish swim under the surface. When fishing the flats or sight fishing you usually only see a twisted flash of color and shadow. At the moment I am working on a new

BLUEGILL Fish PAINTING Sunfish ART Freshwater FISHING
New daily fish art. Decided to do a species of fish I have never painted before. Bluegill and sunfish are very pretty little freshwater fish and can be hard fighters on a fly rod. As kids we used to catch millions of

Rainbow Trout, small colorful original daily painting, fly fishing art
Rainbow Trout face expressionist color study, small 6x8 original acrylic on board auction. This small original opens at $100 with no reserve. Looking to add a small splash of color to your wall? Accent or starter piece to

Mahi Mahi original daily painting 6x8 acrylic on board
New Mahi Mahi painting. Decided to let a little more ground show through on this one to contrast the green. Mahi Mahi daily painting Fly fishing and sportfishing art 6x8 acrylic on masonite. Auction starting at $100 to place a bid CLICK HERE

Bonefish topwater painting, fly fishing art flats study auction
Forgot to post this Bonefish painting earlier but my head is still foggy from all that mountain air and beautiful brook trout caught over the weekend. Continuing to use a half inch brush

Trout study paintings, small fish art originals auction
Actually took the weekend off to do some fly fishing for trout in Northern New Hampshire over the weekend. So here are the new ones that are already up for auction. First is a Rainbow Trout painting and

Tarpon Face study in Oil, going fly fishing for the weekend
I had actually done this study a couple of months ago but wanted to post something today. The reason I am not painting today is that for the first time this year I am breaking out the fly fishing gear and heading

Brown Trout daily painting, 6x8 original fish art study
Now up for auction, Brown Trout facial study. Different angle with large greasy brush strokes. Wanted to see how few strokes I could

Permit painting, original fish in art, 6x8 daily painting
Permit painting, original fish in art, 6x8 daily painting New Permit painting study. Part of my daily painting series I am once again working on. Withe these I am trying to stick to my usual way of working with a larger brush, in this case a half inch flat and gripping at the very end as I would with a larger painting. Makes it a lot tougher in detail areas but

Rainbow Trout, small colorful original painting, fly fishing art auction
Rainbow Trout, small colorful original painting, fly fishing art auction Rainbow Troutface expressionist color study, small 6x8 original acrylic on board up for auction. This small original opens at $100 with no reserve. Looking to add a small splash of color

Daily Fish paintings 100 Small original Fish Art studies
Mahi Mahi study, daily painting 6x8 original painting in acrylic on masonite Crushing a creative block with 100 small fish studies I often receive requests from art students to do interviews explaining my process, what its like to be a full time artist, where I find inspiration on a daily basis etc. etc. Since these days it is often tough to find the time to answer and respond to each person I thought I would begin addressing some of them on my blog. Although my methods are pretty unconventional for the most part, I hope

" Walters Pool " Brown Trout in Stream Painting, fish art
" Walters Pool " Brown Trout in Stream painting, 30x40 private commission. Prints available here

Conch Study, sea shell painting
Been a crazy few months, but finally getting back into things. Not exactly fish art but

Flyfishing art, fly illustration no particular fly pattern
Messing around today with some illustration ideas and decided I had not done any flies in a long time. This isn't any particular fly pattern but I kind of like it just the same.

Tarpon, Permit, and Bone fish art. 8.5 foot painting "A Place I Would Rather Be" revisited

This is a painting which in reality took me 4 years to complete. The original center panel of the Permit I began in Costa Rica and finished in New Hampshire. Although I have had a lot of offers on the initial painting, I held on to it mainly due to the fact that I knew I wanted to do something more with it but wasn't quite sure what. Plus I like having it on my wall because as others have said it is kind of like a mini vacation when you look at it.Over time, I had quite a few people suggest other fishing paintings such as a Bahamas Slam, Caribbean Slam etc including Bonefish and Tarpon but I always felt incorporating all 3 on one canvas might be a little too busy and what I was shooting for was tranquility in the painting. After all, whether fly fishing or spincasting remote flats, in crystal turquoise waters with a gentle trade wind breeze in the warm sun is a vision that puts me into something of a trance and I always find myself wanting to go back to that environment. So after having enough time to lose myself in the painting it one day dawned on me that instead of trying to stuff all 3 species of fish on to one canvas in an unnatural composition I might be able to add two more separate panels and producing a triptych, or a 3 canvas complete painting that not only incorporates all 3 species, but are each strong paintings individually as well.

Ideas are often much easier said than done, and although this was actually quite the challenge, it was a lot of fun to create and I am quite happy with the finished painting. Below are the stages from conception to finished painting of  "A Place I would Rather Be" My largest painting to date,  it measures 24" x 102" unframed or 2 x 8 feet, acrylic on stretched canvas.

Above is the initial composition sketch, including the center permit panel. I wanted to extend the painting on either side to include Bonefish and Tarpon, without them competing for attention or destroying the initial painting composition. What looked good to me at first in black and white soon revealed many obstacles, such as matching colors I used a few years ago, adding points of interest throughout the entire triptych without overdoing it on one panel and as I said also allowing each panel to have its own individual integrity so it could also stand on its own. Another problem I soon realized was that there have been many slight changes in how I approach my work now as opposed to then, such as brushstrokes, the way I see things etc.

Above is the painting about halfway through. Although I was liking where this was going, my horizon on the bonefish panel was tilted and not matching up properly. I also wanted to incorporate a little more atmospheric perspective with the archipelago of small islands giving them more depth and distance giving the feeling of the huge open uninhabited space I get when standing someplace like this. On the tarpon panel although it seemed to work horizontally for me and went with the rest, I found it a little too monotonous for my liking, and with the solid dark coral head behind the tarpon it kept pulling my eyes left and refused to let them wander around the whole composition. Also I wanted it to tell a little more of a story than just a couple fish slapped on a painting in the water blah blah BORING! Although there were many stages and screwups and changes, I was too into what I was doing to take any more pictures so without further ado below is the finished painting.

 

On the new tarpon painting I decided it might tell a better story and add a little more drama to the painting if instead of continuing the flats composition It might be more interesting to feature the tarpon along the edge of the drop off. I also found that the second tarpon was directing my eye off of the canvas so I decided to move it to the inside and make a third smaller on in the distance with the indication of a natural predator facing inwards to keep the eye wandering back into the piece. Then I added a few gulls and moved the foreground cloud so it could be seen through the water and the other major cloud would be relected on the surface.

On the Bonefish I wanted to keep the shallows, push some color in the foreground and some distance into the islands, again stopping the eye from wandering off the canvas by putting the impression of my sailboat on the horizon, which is how I plan to arrive in a place I would rather be the next time I am there.

 

And of course the original "A Place I Would Rather Be" permit painting. Hope you like it, happy fishing and safe travels!

" A Place I Would Rather Be " 24" x 102 " triptych, acrylic on canvas. Flyfishing, Fishing art, original available as well as full size limited original canvas reproductions and smaller size open edition prints.

Click here for availability of  artist embellished, full size limited Originals, only 50 of each available

Click here for smaller open edition prints

Click here if you would like to purchase or inquire about the original

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