Painting Through Prosek: Black Skimmer

I wanted to do at least one more painting before we move and a Virginia Coastal bird seemed appropriate. I love these birds. They glide long distances skimming the surface of the water with only their mandible/beak dragging below the surface fishing for food. So cool to see. They often are in pairs. 

Painting Through Prosek: Atlantic Salmon

On December 9, 2012, I painted the Arctic Char. It was my first painting since college. It was the first painting in the "Painting Through Prosek" series. At the time, I thought I might be able to paint every fish in the book. That didn't happen. That being said, I think I painted 31 different fish from the book Trout: An Illustrated History by James Prosek. I also painted a speckled trout, a couple brookies and brown trout, two red drum tails, and a quail.

This project ended with the Atlantic Salmon. It is such a powerful and beautiful fish. These amazing sea-run fish, return to home waters to spawn. Some make the trip more than once. Most do not.

Salmon have been an important species to may people for many reasons. Some salmon runs have long since disappeared from interruption of their path by dams. This is just as true for the Atlantic Salmon as it is for their West Coast cousins.

I chose to go outside my comfort zone and paint something other than the body colors. I drew some of the structure of Prosek's fish in pencil to help guide my brush. I think this was a great way to end this project. 

I'm not sure what comes next. I have Prosek's book, Trout of the World and Ocean Fishes. But I was thinking of something else.

This July, we are moving back to Southeast Minnesota for the year. I'll be at the edge of the Driftless Area. I might try to find representative flora and fauna and paint those in a Driftless series. Just a thought, for now.

Painting Through Prosek: Westlope Cutthroat Trout

What better to do while watching a good game this evening? While Wisconsin took their shot at Kentucky, I took my shot at the Western Cutthroat Trout. Again, I turned to a combination of James Prosek's version with some photos online and came up with a compromise. 

Look at Kaminsky go!

I added the highlights to give it that shiny-wet-fish appearance.

Painting Through Prosek: Arctic Grayling

The arctic grayling is an awesome fish. It used to be much more prevalent in the lower 48. Maybe someday it will make a comeback. 

Prosek doesn't have this in his trout books, but I still feel it falls in line with this series. 

Painting Through Prosek: Quail

So I know James Prosek doesn't really have a painting like this, but I can't just leave the title so easily and he is big into birds. I figure it works. 

During baby David's nap the other day I too my shot a painting a quail. They really are beautiful birds. I've only seen them a couple times in the wild. After spending an hour looking at pictures on the Internet, I can imagine why people get so obsessed with them. 

This was my first shot at a bird and I went for nearly then entire thing. I think the head went well. 

I let the details go a bit on the tail feathers. 

The finished product. 

Painting Through Prosek: Speckled Trout

Well, after a quick trip to fish harkers island, I thought it was time to look to Prosek's book Ocean Fishes for inspiration and tried my hand at the Speckled Trout, also known as weakfish or Sea Trout. This fish can look basically black and white at first glance, but with a closer look the iridescent blues, greens, and purples as well as the rose and buttercup yellows start to shine through. 

I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but that might be more a sign of my personal growth and desire to step outside the realm of the body design and start looking into fins and gill plates as opposed to the actual outcome. 

Regardless, I give you the Speckled Trout. 

Painting Through Prosek: Von Behr Brown Trout

No apologies for the decrease in posts, from me. I've been busy with an amazing 8-month old and traveling for interviews. This time next year, I'll be exploring new waters. 

On to the painting...

This one has been a long time coming. One of my first attempts at painting was of a brown trout, and, man, did I struggle. I've gotten a little better control of color now, and I'm much happier with this result. I went for the warm colors of the colorful, small-stream browns when they wear yellow bellies and are sprinkled with red and black berries. 

Now, here's a question for you…. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get some shirts with these on them?? 

Painting Through Prosek: Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

Moving along in the series, we come to the beautiful Yellowstone Cutthroat. I actually painted this a couple weeks ago, and now looking back at it, I remember sitting down hoping to "whip through it." Well, it shows a bit. I look at it and see that I was rushed. I can almost feel the stress in the brush strokes. 

But still, the burning colors of Yellowstone's Native Beauty are enough to make me long for the opportunity to see this fish in person, and that, is part reason why I'm doing this little project. 

Remember, you can support our local Trout Unlimited Chapter and purchase your set prints from my Painting Through Prosek Project at my easy page. All proceeds go to the Bill Wills Southeastern Virginia Trout Unilimited Chapter to fund our involvement in Project Healing Waters, Trout in the Classroom, river cleanups and more. If you have a print you'd like to see as a card or an idea for a special order, contact me at David.Loring.Nash@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do to help. Thanks for your support!

Painting Through Prosek: Provo River Strain Bonneville Cutthroat

The cutties in Utah used to be big. Real big. We are talking 10lbs big. Long gone are those day, but there are some remaining strains of the ancestors of those big fish. I can just imagine James Prosek and his buddy, navigating the Utah landscape in an old pickup truck, searching for the unique strains of trout. 

With only a few paintings left in this project, we stop to admire the Provo River Strain of the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout - a strain native to Utah. 

I was a little too light on the par marks and could have gotten my red coloring of the lateral line better, but I'm happy with the fin. 

I think I have four more set aside to paint. Then it is either on to Trout of the World, or time to look at something other than trout. 

Have a great weekend!

Painting Through Prosek: Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, Again

So, funny story. I guess I'm tired. I just realized I painted this trout already. Nice one, David. 

After another 12+ hour day at work, I came home to a sleeping household. Wife. Baby. Cat. All sound asleep. After finishing a couple chores, I decided to move forward with the next object of study in the Painting Through Prosek Series. 

The state fish of New Mexico is one I would love to see in real life. The Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout comes in many colors, but it always seems like you can imagine a desert landscape in the profile. 

Prosek's version is colorful. Mine is inaccurate, but okay nonetheless. 

If you are interested in acquiring a couple prints of the Painting Through Prosek Series, visit my Etsy page. All proceeds go to our local trout unlimited chapter. The bundle of cards will come tied in fly line. My very first fly line, in fact. 

His is better :)

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies:

On a totally separate note, try mixing 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, and a dash of cinnamon together and baking for 10 minutes at 425F. Crazy easy. Crazy delicious. 

The next stage of the Painting Through Prosek project?

I found a heap copy of James Prosek's book "Trout of the World" on amazon. At a quick glance, I see some fun new additions to the painting project. I suppose I have to finish getting through the first book. 

As a bonus, the used copy still had the free poster inside! Score!!

Painting Through Prosek: Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout

The saga continues following James Prosek's lead.  The state fish of New Mexico is as beautiful as a desert sunset. I would love to see one of these in person. 

Prosek's on the left, mine on the right.

It is better in person.

Maybe someday this could be yours :)

If you have enjoyed these paintings and are interested in how you could get your hands on a cheap print, check out my new etsy shop! You can get a set of four different prints on blank greeting cards. For now, all proceeds will go to fund my local trout unlimited chapter. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/191047856/assorted-trout-card-set

Painting Through Prosek - Greenback Cutthroat Trout

The colors on my rendition of James Prosek's Greenback Trout are as bright and bold as the fish's comeback from near extinction. I had to paint this one in a flurry during our little one's evening naps. Fortunately, he was gracious enough to even give me the time to post it. Sleep well, little David. 

Prosek's version is very colorful. 

Do you see that one little orange spot in the middle? Well, I went back and covered with a black spot like it is supposed to be. I guess that's what I get for rushing :)

Taking Painting Through Prosek a little further

My buddy Kevin wanted me to try painting a Shenandoah Brookie for him "Prosek Style." Meaning, he wanted the swatch of color and pattern without the fins and such. That is good, because I can't paint the other bits of the fish.

Using Prosek's Labrador Brook Trout as a guide along with the picture from Kevin, I came up with a version I like. Hope you do too!

If you read the post before this, you'll know I made a CD and put it on CDbaby. Well guess what? It is also on Spotify and iTunes. I'm very impressed with how quick that all happened. If you get a chance, go have a listen. Search "David Nash Dormroom Sessions"and you should find it. It was pretty fun to put together. Spotify works a bit like pandora, so you don't have to pay to listen as opposed to iTunes and CDbaby which will make you buy it to hear the entire thing. iTunes also has longer song previews than CDbaby.

Painting Through Prosek: Spawning Colorado River Cutthroat Trout

I've been looking forward to this fish ever since a I saw a photo posted by Ivan of Yukon Goes Fishing on his Instagram feed. 

photo by YGF... I think.

Now, I don't really know for sure if that is Colorado River Cutthroat or a Yellowfin Cutthroat. What really amazed me was the spot distribution and stark contrast of the yellow body. 

I have primarily been focusing on the broad side of the fish. As you can seen in James Prosek's depiction, it is rather spotless. That meant I had to get a little creative in how I added the spots in. I could have painted the entire fish or just the tail, but I decided to go a different direction.

There may still be time to put this book on your Christmas list. 

The cheap paint set I bought a while back has lasted.

As you can see below, I deiced to just let the spots run off the page. 

I also painted them to fade out a bit. 

Another look at the spots. 

The Instagram shot. 

Next up, the Greenback.

Painting Through Prosek: Volcano Creek Golden Trout

As I finish the section on the Rainbow, Redband and Golden Trout, it has begun to really sink in how much trout diversity there is in North America. This slow stroll through Prosek's book has given me the chance to daydream about one day seeking out some of the less common species. Who knows, I might find myself backpacking the High Sierras, just south of Mount Whitney, stalking the Kern River tributaries in search of the Volcano Creek Golden Trout. 

From here, we move on to the Cutthroat Trout. This is a, relatively, diverse group. I believe I have about 6 or 7 pages marked to paint. Slowly but surely, I'll make it through.