When I first saw Nick Mayer’s work at his Escape Studio, one of the first things I was drawn to was his small sketchbook pages (look at the bottom) he included. Now, I imagine Nick didn’t think these little sketchbook images were all that important when he was designing his website (maybe he did), but they are fascinating to me. I could look at those type of sketchbooks all day, especially the ones with technical notes worked around the sketches.

However, the “real” artwork is some pretty amazing stuff. Nick’s pieces have that “technical” feel to them, with a clean, precise look, but the watercoloring softens them, bringing a warmth and aliveness to each piece. Of most interest, I imagine, to you, would be his collection of fish. He has both saltwater and freshwater fish collections.

Here’s a sneak peek at his latest piece, rainbow trout:

Rainbow Trout - Nick Mayer

and here’s a close-up (click on it to check out the detail, then click on the little green arrow that points down and to the right for an even closer look – wow!):

Rainbow Detail - Nick Mayer

It looks like the majority of his originals are sold, but they do have a note saying “available for commission $1500.” There are some nice looking unframed giclee prints running in size from about 14″ wide ($50) to 40″ wide ($250). They can also be purchased framed. For those with a smaller budget, he has notecards for purchasing.

There are also some great pieces on insects, but I didn’t see any that would be of special interest to the fly fisher with maybe the exception of the dragonfly. I could definitely see some mayflies lending themselves to his style (Nick: hint, hint).

A very cool side note here, something that I think is unique is his Faux Moths Project. This is a collection of moths that he watercolors, then cuts out and mounts in boxes to look like real moths. You can read his detailed description on that page of how he started the project.

He runs Escape Studio apparel store selling shirts, mugs, hats, bags, etc.

You can follow Nick on his Fresh Art Blog.

First up is Jared Miller from Streamside Illustrations. He has some fish illustrations that he says he was inspired to draw because of Joseph Tomelleri’s work. He uses the same colored pencil style as Tomelleri, and from what I can see from the web pictures, they’re pretty good quality too (he has close-ups of some of the fish, and you can really see some nice detail). You can view several of his illustrations at his website. I don’t think he has any prints for sale, but what he seems to specialize in is illustrating your fish. Send him a picture and he’ll illustrate it for you. Jared has a blog, but it doesn’t look like he’s updated it in some time. Too bad, because I enjoyed glancing through the posts he does have.

Scott Hale over at Art Creel sent me an email the other day letting me know of his new “90 Fly Fishing Paintings in 90 Seconds” video. This is a great way to see some of the excellent artwork of the nine artists showing and selling work at Art Creel. Once you’ve seen the video, get over to Art Creel and check out your favorites. I love art, but often find it too pricey. There are some very reasonably priced pieces available art Art Creel. (My New Year’s Resolution #27: buy at least one piece of art this year.) A little tucked away section at Art Creel is their blog. I love woodcuts (I’ve tinkered with making a couple myself), and there is an excellent three part post on John Koch’s woodcut “Four Seasons” that goes into some nice depth concerning that woodcut. You should really read it (scroll down a bit until you get to the November 19, post, that’s the first one). John runs his own blog called Trout Lily Studios that I quite admire. If you like reading more in-depth pieces about how an artist thinks and works, subscribe to his blog.

Many of you are probably familiar with Jason Borger’s work at Fish, Flies & Water (art and casting) and Jeff Kennedy of Drawing Flies 365 (painting a new fly every for one year – he does have his book available too). They are collaborating this year on a new project called Drawing Flies 52. Yep, they each draw/paint a new fly once a week for a year. It looks like a fun collaborative in which they each draw/paint the same fly pattern, without knowing what the other is doing. A great wrinkle to this is that they only give themselves 30 minutes to complete the art. (If I had half the talent in ten times the time, I’d be very pleased with myself). They both do a nice job of talking about the technical aspects of their work. Jason also puts up some nice pieces that aren’t art related.

His art reminds me of early fish illustrations found in biology texts. I think it’s because he uses a lot of browns and there seems to be a type of stippling to his work. I think his warm water fish are especially good. All-in-all I think Thom has some nice work being offered.

I asked about them and was told that Spencer Alexander, a “local” carver made them. Spencer isn’t exactly local, but pretty close. He grew up in Farr West, Utah, about 25 miles from Logan. His home was along what is called the Wasatch Front. The Wasatch Mountains are the western range of the Rocky Mountains and he could see the towering, jagged peaks from his home. More importantly, he was able to get into those mountains frequently for some of his greatest enjoyments: camping, hiking and fishing.

Ever since he was young, Spencer was always drawing. His favorite subjects were animals, including dinosaurs. With his increasing skills he was invited to share some of his pen, ink and pencil work at a local museum at the age of 16. He also got involved in air-brushing large murals and was even commissioned by his high school to create one.

Spencer’s father, who was involved in sheet metal fabricating and wood carving, started teaching himself how to carve wood while Spencer lived away from home. When he returned, his father urged Spencer to give it a try, showing him some of the things he learned including using some of the tools of the trade.

Spencer says that the first ten or so carvings were pretty much the same as far as quality, and it didn’t seem like his skills were improving. About a year into it things started to click and each fish was progressively better. He even feels that the fish he carves now are better than the ones just a year ago. On completion of a fish, he says that, “If all has gone as planned, and it meets or surpasses my expectations, then it is they greatest feeling in the world.” Even after his work and accomplishments, he sometimes is “surprised to think that underneath all that work is just a piece of wood.”

As I noted earlier, one thing about the carvings at the store that caught my eye was the fine detail. For example, trout have extra teeth where you might not expect them: on the “tongue” and roof of the mouth (respectively basihyal teeth and vomer teeth). Look in the mouth of one of Spencer’s carvings, and there they are. He puts in the time to not only get the book-learning about the species he carves, but firsthand experience as he spends time “in the field” catching, photographing and releasing his samples.

One would think with this type of dedication to detail and research that his carvings would have a lifeless, clinical aspect to them. However, he has a fine arts background. “He prefers elegance and the artistic to the traditionally rugged,” is how his bio puts it. I say that the fine arts training helps him infuse his subjects with life and vibrancy, as if at any moment the fish will leap off the wall or nab a fly that gets too close.

I asked him how long it takes to carve a single fish. He said about 3-4 working days. But this isn’t really an accurate picture. For example, he spends considerably more time with the research than he does putting chips on the floor. He has switched from air-brushing the carvings to hand painting with artist’s brushes. These add extra time. But this commitment to detail and to the artisan in him has paid big dividends.

Something he started doing about three years ago was entering carving contests, competing in both the California Open and the World Fish Carving Championships. Last month at the California Open in San Diego Spencer entered two pieces: a fall German Brown trout on a driftwood base for which he earned 3^rd place and a Rio Piaxtla trout which garnered 2^nd place.

Spencer sells existing carvings and he can be commissioned for murals and carvings. If you are interested in having him create a lasting memory of a fish you caught, you just need some measurements and photographs. He is currently working on a 41 inch lake trout caught in the Flaming Gorge reservoir.

Contact Information

phone: 801.710.1206

email: spencer.alexander[a]yahoo.com (replace the [a] with @)