Tag: fish art
Monday Morning Sidewalk Waiting on Weather
A look forward to the week ahead and back at the week that was
Good Monday morning folks! Last week was one to remember, as a single unexpected good weather day also coincided with having a fly fishing drone photographer on board as we stalked and caught carp on Lake Ray Roberts, Texas. Epic.
It (the drone footage) was actually such a wonderful distraction last week … that I forgot to run the followup to the story on retail fly shops! I ran that story, on the resurrection of Backwoods Fort Worth, Texas, here yesterday (just below this post. Scroll down baby, scroll …
Today here in North Texas, we’re faced with a severe weather outbreak that is supposed to kick in this afternoon, and may run through the evening and into tomorrow. So far, my block had dodged the bullets. Gardens, roofs and cars are still in tact. How long that will last, God only knows.
I started getting wind of problems with the Pay-Per-View registration about ten days ago, and found a closed gate at where a fly fisher who would want to register would be blocked out no matter what. I opened the gate, and within a few minutes Russian hackers came rushing in. I’ll be looking for the solution again today. Ahhhhh, the labors of love!
For now, MONDAY is THE DAY TO REGISTER here at Texas Fly Caster. The gate is open now. Even if you don’t do your membership upgrade (for some strange reason), make sure you get registered today – https://texasflycaster.com/wp-login.php?action=register and SUBSCRIBE whenever the desire to be an insider to a wealth of information hits you! There have already been two SUBSCRIBER ONLY FISH FLASHES in the last ten days. I am still looking for stories, and that can be your ticket to a free subscription if the story is accepted. IF YOU DO REGISTER – Use a real name and a real e mail address (the Russians have already arrived 10:41am cst).
READ MORE FREE NOW — Continue Reading
Fish With Attitude – A Follow Up in the Studio with Mike Quinn Santa Fe Texas
Texas Fish Art Michael Quinn Fish With Attitude and Author Fly Phoebe Fly
Call it a “jurassic sculpture art park?” That might cover most of the bases for the home-art-compound of Mike Quinn in Santa Fe, Texas. But it doesn’t cover all of them …
First a bit about Santa Fe. It won’t be mistaken for Santa Fe, THE Santa Fe, anytime soon. The town runs along 6 and just past the intersection of 45-and-6 heading out of Galveston, Texas. This is the land of the flat grid roads that remind me of the back roads where my Grandparents lived in Aransas Pass, Texas. Straight, flat and punctuated by stop signs. It kind of reminds me of Homestead, South Florida.
It was a long interview with Mike, and the fruits of that labor will be on this tree at a later date, but suffice it to say; there is a great American story of a business started from an art assignment at Texas Southern University, that grew into a huge art business, was withered by 9/11, went away for a few years and is back again. It’s also a story of an artist with an imagination so vivid, he could create (write and illustrate) an entire children’s book based on seeing a fly on a plane. And it’s an interview that ended with a lightning storm that kept me pinned down inside his studio for about an extra hour, with bolts striking so close it seemed like our meeting got God’s full attention.
This is one of those stories that has to be offered up to my other (paying) publishing outlets first, and then I will roll out my version – for subscribers – here. Meanwhile, if you want to hear more about Fish With Attitude or his book, “Fly Phoebe Fly!” contact me, and I will fill you in.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT SATURDAY ATHENS TEXAS
Thanks for reading today. It looks like a disaster waiting to be had for tomorrow’s event at the Texas Freshwater Fishery Center in Athens, Texas. We’re looking at an 80-percent chance of rain, which really translates into 100-percent by my science. I’m afraid it means huddling inside, soaked vendors outside, and not much in the way of attendance. Seeing as this is my first speaking gig since cancer, it won’t hurt to play to a smaller than usual crowd. If you thought Marco Rubio swigged water, wait until you see me up front Saturday!
Port Aransas Potters On Cotter
Texas Fish Artists Potters on Cotter in Port Aransas Texas
Potters on Cotter, Port Aransas, Texas.
FEBRUARY IS THE MONTH FOR POTTERS
If you do get down to Port Aransas, Texas, be sure to check out Potters on Cotter this month. I have not checked in (to let them know I won’t be there), but February was the month they were supposed to have visiting artists who make fish art from molding fish in clay.
So they (Mississippi Mud Pottery) visit Port Aransas, go catch the fish, make their art and then make their meal (from the same fish). Since there are two fish exactly alike on the salt, that means no two art pieces from different fish – ARE ALIKE.
Brenda Barnett does keep up with the Potters on Cotter Facebook page at – https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=potters%20on%20cotter.
My article on the gallery is at – https://texasflycaster.com/tag/potters-on-cotter/ .
Airstream – ART AND ARTISTS OF THE SILVER KIND
Airstream trailers and fly fishing combine
“Mid-Century Modern” has become a catch-all art and design phrase that has been thrown around a lot in the last several years. If you want the ultimate rolling, and still rolling mid-century modern? Look no further than Airstream Trailers.
Airstream has the added cache in that they are still being made, much like the best of Herman Miller’s furniture collection. Today’s Airstream is unmistakeable, and the lineage is undeniable. There’s never been a revolution at Airstream – because there never needed to be one.
When you get it right the first time, all that’s needed is to, “Make only improvements, not simply changes.” It’s a mantra that people living inside these traveling art pieces take deadly serious. Just like any art, the beauty of their Airstream is in the eye of their key holders.
Many books have been done, many articles written, magazines launched, websites created — in behalf of the Airstream Cult. Mine, www.airstreamdiary.com has been up-and-down for several years. That diary was launched with a unique perspective of being the diary of the trailer, not the inhabitants.
Our Airstream has been the subject of much ribbing by family. It is the longest running of all our projects, and by far the most expensive, even valuing our time at zero. We were very close to the end of the project when the diagnosis came for me, and of course that was a huge setback. As valuable as I see this silver dream, I am fortunate to have a wife who also sees the dream (unlike this fly fishing addiction). I, of course, have weaved the Airstream into my future fly fishing dreams … and we will soon see what comes of that.
Along this silver road, I have gained a lot of experience working on these rolling art pieces. I even do it for income. From building websites like www.apvintagetrailerworks.com to actually building-rebuilding Airstreams from the ground up (just like ours). Airstreams were designed for a twenty-five year life span (far outliving those toy boxes running down the road with parts falling off), but little did the company realize they were making trailers that would be used forty, fifty years down the road. Yes they have a lot of the same problems after that many years, but so do we humans!
Of course the Airstream life also continues in real time at the factory website – Airstream.
So there’s my take on Tuesday’s Art Column – flying down the road at you in May! Look for more activity at that site – www.airstreamdiary.com – as this site blends Airstreams and Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids in new ways this year.
Texas Fly Fishing Monday Morning Sidewalk Art and More
fly fishing fly tying fish art #flyfishing
I ended up trading some of my work for a fantastic platter by Max Butler.
Hello again, and I hope you are finding the Texas Fly Caster site in satisfactory condition this Monday morning – after a full frontal hack attack that started just before the weekend kicked in. If anything looks, shall we say … “foreign” … please notify me immediately. I am not familiar with mandarin, but I had to kill some features of the site because I believe that is the language the hack is written in. What a pain! Do you remember when being hacked meant something completely different than it does nowadays?
Saturday’s backyard art show here at the house was a raging success for the artists we hosted, and I had a long, oft interrupted, fly tying session with Fort Worth fly fisher Mandy Mendez, who sold a few flies during the show. I don’t mind admitting Mandy taught me a thing or two about her style and approach to fly tying. We had a great laugh sitting together, comparing her Renzetti Vise to my Dyna-King Barracuda. She labeled my Dyna-King the “Steam Punk Vise,” which compared to the Ferrari Renzetti, seemed extremely accurate. I have to admit sitting with friends and tying flies made me think about resuming a regular fly tying session, like when I first started (the short lived) having invites to Fuzzy’s Taco in Denton to tie flies. There may not be a lot of great fly fishing opportunities in North Texas, but there certainly are a lot of opportunities to tie flies with friends in a lot of locations – across DFW. And for the next few days, that’s about all this weather will be good for …
You are probably a lot more interested in fly fishing opportunities than reading about the art world – although I hope not! Well, the North Texas fly fishing is being slapped silly by some weather that we will again file in the “New Normal” file for winter in this decade. About the time I call weather strange, it will probably normalize and blast us with a prolonged winter, a real winter like those of the past. So, I won’t challenge Mother Nature today.
About the best I can do locally is GO SEE about the striper action at Denison Dam, and maybe offer up a report later this week. I have always liked it cold at that location, and if they are generating electricity – it’s EVEN BETTER! I’ll keep an eye on it, and let you know. Otherwise, it will be to the salt for Christmas vacation – just a short run from Houston (the plan so far).
LET ME KNOW IF YOU want to receive the newsletter that went out this morning. That e mail list was apparently hacked as well. Let me know if you are on the list and did not receive that mail chimp newsletter, and I will try and figure out how to get it to you.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned.
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