Crashboat Beach
Groupies
Post March 29, 2017
Art biz is a blitz now until the first festival which is the Gig harbor Summer Art Festival July 15 and 16 this year. I'll be finishing my 2017 prints soon and have them posted on the "New Prints" page. Many thoughts come to mind as I prepare to retire from my 43 year career as a fish biologist. Having time to pursue new areas of my art is an exciting thought, a thought only second to new fishing adventures, or is it continuing to travel other parts of the world with my wife of 38 years. One thing is certain though, and that is that we'll be busy having fun.
We'll be packing soon for that trip to Europe in May, but no fishing. But then we're already booked into a house in Loreto, BCS for November. Sweet as I'm hooked up with the areas premier fishing guide Pancho Romero for some serious high-fives.
Post July 6, 2017
So many good things in the last three months, like the trip to Europe, Retiring, and getting set for our summer art festivals. First off, what a fab vacation venturing across the pond. We started in Barcelona and ended in Barcelona. In between was touring in Italy, France, Spanish Islands, and a bonus was a spending a few days in Valencia( over Mothers Day). Truly a whorl wind gig as we toured something everyday except for two half days spent at the beach, Going that far I required a swim in the Mediterranean, cool or not.
Retiring ( this is my first day of rest) has been quite an event. Glad, sad, and glad again. Hated the goodbyes to work chums but the kind words at my parties were soothing to the sole. After 43 years it's time to direct my attention to my fish art, fishing, and the score of projects waiting at home. Then there are trips to take and new ventures to explore.
We'll be on the road to festivals( see my contact page for the schedule) in the near future before fall fishing trips and then on to Baja for water fun and fishing in November. A trip back to Puerto Rico is happening in February( you just can't keep us away from those islands)
UPDATE _ October 6, 2017 - due to the Hurricane we regretfully canceled the PR trip and have booked a trip to Costa Rica instead for March. First time to fish that area but anticipating some quality time casting.
Post November 27, 2017
WHAT A TRIP ...to the Baja. Weather was perfect with winds on the water manageable the second and third week of this month. My son and I did a required panga trip with Pancho on the Barracuda. Using huge mackerel for bait we got into Skipjacks that tried to devour the bait before we could get down to the grouper.
Shore fishing turned out fun as trigger and other fish were biting. In all, I painted several fish that will be shown in upcoming festivals(see pictures)
The water was perfect for snorkeling right off the beach in front of our Mexican style townhouse( see pictures). Well, there was one other thing, and that was a wild horse running into the side of my rental car at night flying down the Baja Highway. Quite eventful but I'll leave the story for another time.
Getting into San Juan
La Rogativa - Depicts the 1797 procession of the Bishop to scare off an invading British fleet.
Jane taking
the lead
Loreto Bay ( Nopolo)
Our Cool Hats.
Post - June 12, 2016
Lots of good stuff since Puerto Rico. My personal agenda kept me busy getting ready for the first festival of the year , the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts. This great show wrapped around a long weekend of good music is held each Memorial Day weekend in Port Angeles)WA). We had the pleasure of getting acquainted with another gyotaku artist from Washington whose art booth was next to us. A bit weird having us next to each other but we made the best of it and quickly became friends exchanging ideas and techniques.
We also had a great surprise having Paul and Kathy Hage stop by for a visit.
The four days of sitting in the booth gave me a laundry list of things to change, eliminate, and just add to the next festival. We hope to see you at the next gig, the Proctor Art Festival in Tacoma on August 6th.
Post - August 30, 2016
Seems like I had the whole summer between P.A, and T Town. Too bad the local fishing was poor. I did manage to get a net around a couple nice kings though (prints for 2017).
The Proctor Art Festival ( Tacoma) in early August is one of my fave's to visit old friends ,make new ones, and catch some swell music. And, we got to share some of my newest prints, tiles, and something new this year , canvas prints with fish-head art collectors.
The second weekend found us at the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival on Whidbey Island. What a rewarding experience and in an area I think I'd like to live. Steeped in history, Coupeville is exciting to just walk around in. We got to set up our booth between who are now old friends. One thing we like about going back to some of the same festivals is that we connect with other artists and craft people. And, a reward at Coupeville this year was to catch the band Rabbit Wilde that we first saw at PA this year. Some serious foot stomping hoot. To top off great sales that weekend was to see our friends Paul and Kathy , Rob , and Jess and MaryAnn who all visited from the mainland.
After a trip to Las Vegas for my nephew's wedding on the 20th I'm getting stoked for a trip to the Columbia River Gorge for some fall king fishing. Then its a on to Port Townsend on the 10th for our last festival of the year, called Crafts by the Docks, held in conjunction with the famous Wooden Boat Festival. We hope to see you there.
Post September 14, 2016
Las Vegas in August- Very Hot, and, every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a costume on the strip trying to catch tourist dollars. Wedding was short and very nice. My nephew Andy married into a friendly and fun family.
My son Eric and I hooked up with a T-town crew to whack some kings down on the Columbia River on September first. The five of us netted 11 beautiful Chinook for a fantastic day. Of course my two got an acrylic paint job followed by rice paper. The prints are going to be at the top of my market when completed. I just don't know yet how I'll frame them due to the large size.
We traveled to Port Townsend September 9th to set up for the Crafts by the Docks festival. My booth site was 20 feet from a sandy beach and we scored a waterfront room with hot tub on the deck. What a great start to a weekend filled with making new friends and seeing old ones. A highlight was the famous Wooden Boat Show smack next door. The salt chuck out front of the area was filled with double masters and every kind of a wooden boat imaginable.
Another highlight of our trip was to have our good
friend from Bellingham, Bruce McConnel pay us a
visit. Nice to have an extra hand packing two rigs
up for the drive home.
Next up is some fishing fun in the Sea of Cortez off
Loreto BCS just before Turkey Day.
Post December 5th
And what a trip it was. The weather was pushing 90 each day but the wind kept things manageable. We rented a house at Loreto Bay which is basically a snowbird golf resort of several hundred newer Mexican style houses. Loreto Bay offers just about everything one needs in a 10 day vacation with coffee, restaurant's, pools, great snorkeling right out front, and a friendly Seahawk crowd to watch the games with at the corner bar. With our rental car we went into town ( a 10 minute drive) several times, especially to fish off the malecon or buy groceries at the bigger markets.
My son Eric and I met up with the area's best fisherman, Poncho and his boat the Barracuda on a Wednesday. Prefect day as the wind finally let up for the 40 mile ride North to a fishing hole.
The bait in that area of the Sea of Cortez disappeared a few years ago with El Nino so things are tight in the morning around Loreto. We did managed to buy 18 large Bigeye and mackeral that morning to use for live-bait fishing.We were on the water 7 hours and 14 fish later when we pulled in the lines for good. As you can see we managed to have some serious fun. You'll see the results in a year or two when I finish the prints I made from these Pargo, Cabrilla, and Yellowtail.
Sugar Cane Ruins on Viequez
Post -
January 9, 2016
Studio work on new originals for 2016 festivals is a constant during winter periods.
On the trip to Loreto, Mexico in November I got some killer prints from fish new to me in the Sea of Cortez. Fishing was excellent off the rocks in town along the malicon and the marina breakwater. New to me this trip was an abundance of biting Jack Crevalle and Ladyfish. Triggerfish were also biting. I pulled prints off those as well as my panga trip fish consisting of very large Barracuda, Hogfish, and pargo ( Red Snapper). The Barracuda were big and high jumpers when hooked. In fact, I heard the skipper yell and turned around to see his pole flying over the side. After a half hour snorkeling survey we decided his $200 pole was a not to be found.
Next up - Puerto Rico in February fishing the area called Shacks Beach on the west end of the main island and out on the island of Viequez near St. Thomas.
Post -
February 11, 2016
It's happening - Day 3 opens with sun, sun, and more of it. Yesterday found us back in Old San Juan city, a 15 minute bus ride from our digs in Condado. I've had monkeys on my head, but a giant Iguana?
We're off to Shacks Beach today across the island to Isabella where I "FISH" and snorkel before taking a break Saturday to do the annual coffee harvest festival in Maricao. An excellent way to celebrate my birthday. Valentine's Day will be punctuated with a Vegan feast, no doubt.
More later
Post -
March 10, 2016 ( Post Trip Notes)
Getting to the coffee festival in Maricao is an adventure in itself. This was our third time there and travel on skinny mountain roads with serious traffic wears you out. Puerto Ricans have taken the art of tailgating to a whole new level so where ever you go on that island, you're always glad to get there and off the road. I sampled 6-8 different coffees from area growers and never had a bad brew. One thing you learn in Puerto Rico is that coffee is always brewed in an espresso pot, and served (your choice) negro, or la crème.
While on the West end of the island we went up into the cave country and did some spelunking at the "Window Cave". Pretty cool with trails through a cave network terminating on a cliff-side "cave hole" overlooking at a vast lush valley.
Another day found us back into the mountains to rainforest waterfalls and pools to swim in. Pretty popular place the day we went. At the parking lot the attendant ask where we were from. When I said Seattle he said welcome to the jungle.
Good snorkeling and adventure in the Isabella area made up for the lousy fishing. Oh, and from watching video's over and over I made us palm leaf hats, palm fish, and palm parrots. They look funny and I could probably not fool tourist with my hat line but not bad for my first attempt.
Next was back to San Juan to to catch a flight( 8 passenger puddle jumpers) to Viequez. The house we rented in Esperenza on the south side of the island. Beach after beach is right out of a tropical movie set. We did a lot of kicking back on beaches, snorkeling, and me fishing. I painted 8 species of fish I caught off the reefs going back to some of the same areas I've fish in years past.
We also did some exploring visiting the ruins of a large sugar cane plantation. Jane caught some yoga on a sweet beach right in town and we traveled to the other town on the island , Isabella II for lattes and groceries. In both towns and areas in between we found fine dining with good vegan fare.
Snorkling at Crashboat Pier
Trying to Hide
Type your paragraph here.
Window Cave
Hitch hiker, huh?
Jane's Yoga Class at Sun Bay
Pancho
38th Annual Coffee Festival
Eric and I whacked em
Puerto Rico - Captured Briefly in February 2016
Post December 18, 2016
Sunday without a Hawk game finds me in the studio working on tile pieces. I put son Jeff to work yesterday cutting wood frame pieces. So far I'm readying 30 pieces for 2017 festivals but will probably need more. Soon I'll have to get some new originals finished as well( and this is not supposed to be another job).
No Las Vegas for Christmas this year, so tree is up and jolly music is playing. Enjoying reading the cards and letters from friends and family and catching up on their travels. Rare but true, we do not have a trip to beaches to our south planned for February, but who knows. We are though, booked for Europe during most of May. We'll have a base in Barcelona with visits France and Italy . I'm told we'll be snorkeling at places , but no fishing, bummer. The big prize is my retirement when we get back. Finally, more fishing and time for my art. I'm happy to announce that more and more customers are contacting me after talking to us or grabbing my business card at festivals.
Sun-rise on Viequez