No. 18 - Coffee, Pen and Ink sketch by Jeff Kennedy
Although I have yet to meet Jeff personally, he’s one of many friends I’ve met thanks to the Internet. Jeff is one talented, busy person who has several sites in various stages of development including, Northern Illinois Fly TYers, Jeff Kennedy Studio, My Sketch Blog, Brook - Pinup Fishing Illustrations, Callibaetis, and of course, Drawing Flies!
Jeff says of his work at Drawing Flies,
“I initiated the creation of this blog as a challenge. The challenge is to draw a fly a day for an entire year. Part of the challenge is the discipline to accomplish this every day and the other is to expand my creativity and to help find my artistic voice.”
At Jeff’s site, you’ll discover he is quite prolific and accomplished in many media!
As one might imagine, among Jeff’s many hobbies are fly fishing and fly tying. While the number of fishing flies I’ve tied in my life could be counted on one hand, Jeff and I share an interest in the great outdoors, streams, fishing, fishing flies, and watercolor. I could have highlighted any number of Jeff’s works, but I chose “No 18,” because—aside from appreciating the work itself—there is an interesting and informative story as to how Jeff created it. You can read about it here.
The artistic beauty of a well tied fishing fly has never escaped my attention. However, I’ve overlooked the fly as subject matter for my own work. Besides it historical significance, a fishing fly could argumentatively be thought of as a beautifully designed piece of miniaturized, utilitarian sculpture. Thus, my fascination with Jeff’’s new found direction! It is one of those, “Darn, why didn’t I think of that” things that—one time or another—happens to everyone.
If you haven’t already, I invite you to visit Drawing Flies. As Jeff stated when he began the site the first of the year, “… hang on and enjoy the ride for the next 365 days!”
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