Tuesday, June 26, 2012

First fishing trip

I went fishing for the first time this year last Friday morning. I just went for a couple of hours, since I had various other things to get done, but it felt great to get out.




First, just to get this bit of suspense out of the way, yes, I caught fish. One bluegill and one smallmouth, both too small to be proud of, but fun to catch anyway.



This was also the first time I’d ever tried creek-wading to fish. I probably loaded myself up more than most anglers do for wading, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick with just using a few different lures for bass. I wanted to make sure I could switch to any other technique I felt like trying.



I think my preparations paid off. I put an assortment of tackle into a small tackle box, and put the tackle box into a vinyl satchel to carry. The satchel was also (barely) big enough for the plastic jar of worms I dug up in the morning but never used. I packed a few Ziploc bags for my wallet, phone, and camera, because I intended to get wet. I wore my fishing vest and old trousers, and liberally soaked myself in Off! before heading out because I found a lot of ticks the last time I was in that area.



The water varied between ankle deep and almost waist deep along the edge of the creek. The water felt good; it was peaceful; and I think I even saw an otter in the distance at one point, though it might have been a beaver, which I know were nearby because I saw the chewed-up vegetation.



I caught the smallmouth right at the edge of some ripples, and he jumped as I reeled him in. He was very pretty and bronze.

I didn't wade very far. Probably not more than an eighth of a mile.

I think the smallmouths are targeted pretty hard by local anglers. I’m wondering what kind of success I’d have looking for catfish there? I never hear anyone talking about catfish there, but I don’t think many people look for them. I really want to go back and spend a while fishing some slow-current spots for bullheads and channel catfish; I think they’re there.

Looing upstream

Looking downstream

Monday, June 18, 2012

Ferrari Spider commission finished

 
I finished this commission in time, a couple of days ago. This is a 2004 Ferrari Spider, oil on panel, 16 x 24.
 
The background is cobbled together from a few references, and quite a bit of it is just made up.  I had never painted a palm tree before, but I think these look sort of nice.
 

Monday, June 11, 2012

What a show

I saw two big productions over the weekend.  Last night, thanks to my friend John, I was able to attend The Wall Live, performed by Roger Waters and a bunch of great musicians and a host of production personnel.  It was spectacular, and we had great seats.

Also over the weekend, I attended another wonderful performance in my own back yard!  Here is the invitation:

And here is another handout, a synopsis to entice us to attend:

It, too, was a fine production, completely silent, obviously well-rehearsed, and with great props (there was hula-hooping, small plastic stakes used at hunting implements, and a water spray bottle for cleaning the invisible prey... which they did eat with enthusiasm.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Rock climbing



 
These are some crummy cell phone photos, but you can still see what a great job she did climbing!  These are from a birthday party last week.