Burton Fish Board Inspiration:
I’m constantly intrigued with the aesthetics I find in nature. Everywhere I go, and every direction I look conjures up questions.. how would I paint that? Would it make a great painting? How would I mix that color?
In all of nature, nothing calls to me to paint it the way fish do. They are the total aesthetic package. Their color is a perfect contrast of bold, bright hues married with subtle neutrals and complimentary colors.
Fish have a variety of forms and shapes that are interesting, and iconic. The patterns on their skin are dynamic, and when looked at with no connection to fish, make beautiful abstract compositions, beyond the capabilities of even the best non-objective abstract artists.
A large part of my plight as a fish artist, is that I want to take this perfect subject, this object of so many artist’s obsession, and paint it in new and exciting ways. I want to push the boundary of fish art, and it is no easy task…not to do it well anyway.
So as I sat in my tiny airplane seat, at 30,000 ft, on my way to another fly fishing expo, my mind was somewhere else. My mind often is somewhere else when I have a sketchpad and marker in my hand, trying to come up with the next new way to look at fish. I began to intertwine fish shapes and patterns, composing a drawing that looked completely new and fresh.
It related to fly fishing only in a sense of celebrating something that fly anglers covet so dearly.. trout. But other than that, it was a study of color, pattern and form. And what better subject to focus on for this type composition than fish?
I call the series “Trout Confetti”, but unlike the randomness of the confetti on the ground, there is a rhyme and a reason to the positioning of each fish.
So a year or so ago, when the folks at Burton Snowboards asked me to submit some fish art for their 2014 “Fish Board”, I felt the “Trout Confetti” series would be the perfect fit.