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August 2008 'Autumns on the Spey' 16 flies tied by 16 great tyers Having recently set my sights on Local flies I have been looking to Charlie Dickson, Damian Welsh, Mike Boyer and Ari- Heikki Rintaniemi for inspiration and very much enjoying this new angle. Then I heard about a little known but well loved book called Autumns on the Spey by A E Knox prized for its plates and patterns of 16 Spey flies......... I put the word out and within two days I had my list of tyers... it was thrilling. Quite a few I have worked with before: The guys already mentioned above and also Scotsman Davie McPhail, I knew these guys were well up to the mark and already favourite tyers of mine . I wanted a high level of expertise in these so asked Philip Glendinning for the authentic Scottish real deal. John Shewey widely acknowledged worldwide as an authority on Speys and Henrik Strandgaard, who tyed the beauties in the FlyFishers Classic Library reprint and also an authority on this book. Then there were tyers that I have been wanting to work with for a while, fellows who would provide a bit of gold dust, highly talented , respected and recommended tyers all, Bud Guidry, Alberto Calzolari, Edward Muzeroll, Frank Swarner III, Dave Kline and Sebastian Letelier, who had just sent a collection of Knox's Speys to Steve Thornton for his 3rd Volume of world Tyers. Most important are characters who will provide what I think of as the soul and spirit that I want so much to retain from the original book Matt Inman and James Daley whose energy encouragement and support for all things fly, fires up enthusiasm for the art of fly tying, across many forums whenever they can. In here I also place Jens Lund Adamsen, it was his post on the classic flytying forum that sold me on wanting to illustrate these lovely enigmatic flies . These are my collaborators on this project a wide range of nationalities, experience and Notoriety!!!!!! You will have noticed thats 17 fellows in all !! ...one of them has a very special surprise for the project ;-) The Guys are tying two versions, a formal one, on a hook provided by Philip Glendinning ( thanks Philip) these will be framed together and will raise money for a very good charity. The other fly a more personal approach to the fly will be presented in a special 16 edition portfolio. There is also very special fly which will also be framed up with the illustration I do.... Its great to see the project evolving openly on the Internet, Check out the forums below if youre interested and post a comment too if you like. http://www.classicflytying.com http://speypages.com/speyclave The charity : casting for recovery.usa and casting for recovery uk
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A
Glent Grant from Ari- Heikki Rintaniemi
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Alt
Derg- A favourite beat of Knox's today
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Six
of the flies tied by Henrik Strandgaard for the FCL reprint of Autumns
on the Spey
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my
practice gold reeach from mikes website
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Charlies Culdrain.... Beauty
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The Glorious Summer of 2008 .......................is how we will remember this summer Sebastian Letelier, a brilliant flytyer from Chile came to stay! and what fun its turned out to be. I first heard of him through Jens Pilgaard two years ago at the Newark show, Jens recommended him as one of the best fly dressing talents around, I made contact pretty soon after that and when I heard that Sebastian was coming to Scotland I thought it was too good a chance to miss and lured him to stay with me and Andy with tales of the Spey, Deveron and Dee. It was easy!!! :-))) So my honoured guest arrived . First of all organised a conclave to welcome him to Scotland, it was short notice but a possie of Tyers from Aberdeen arrived. Philip Glendinning, Mike Townend and Chris Western as well as local fishers ghillies and friends. Phillip brought some amazing... I'll say it again , amazing flies. Speys, great to see them dislayed so beautifully in 3d and the ones I had been looking for, patterns from The 'Autumns' book !!!! ...and some Dees... hmmmmmmm very interesting:-))))) Ian Collie brought his museum collection ( see the table display below) I was happy to be able to talk to loads of folk about my work and everyone wanted to talk to Sebastian. It was a beautiful sunny day on the Field of Dreams at Drummuir in whats turned out to be a glorious Summer. We have been out and about Moray and Aberdeen showing Sebastian the Deveron, Dee, Donn ,of course the Spey and we met some brilliant folk along the river banks. Like Turriff fishing Asssociation waters, where we met brilliant Jim Lorimer and half the Association fishers, I took my 'Autumns on the Spey' with me but only read two pages for all the sites and chat at the riverbank. Sebastian took a trip to the Dee and came back with tales of the river and people met.Wherever Sebastian went he found people interested and out to help him all they could, He certainly has made lots of friends. Sebastian has caught two grilse, everyone says theyre there but just not taking, the hot weather probably doesnt help, still I know he's really enjoying his time in Scotland and we have one chance left....... Sebastian has been a big inspiration, given me lots of good ideas about future projects. So a big thank you Sebastian you can call this corner of Moray your second home and come again any time, I would be sad except know that we will all meet again soon at the BFFI in Stoke on Trent in November. |
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| Table at the conclave, Thanks to Ian for the beautiful display. | Philip Glendinning Dee and Spey specialist from Aberdeen, An awesomely talented tyer and fine fellow. | Me, Bill Gidman, Eleanor and Ian Collie, Phillip, Sebastian, Mike and Chris. |
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| Andy joins in for a pic!!!! He has this effect on people. | Sebastian is an excellent flyfisher .... you feel like hes going to catch one at any moment. |
Our
fishing party on the Deveron, Bill Ian and Sebastian, we spent alot
of time watching a pair of Osprey and a chick about to fledge
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Me
on the Spey in Ians size 9 waders, I caught a fish!!!!!!!!!!!!! not
very big one mind but what a buzz.
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In Philips fly tying attic, loved seeing some of his treasured files, feathers and flies.. |
A fine walk along the Spey from Carron Bridge to Aberlour and back.
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| Mike Boyer: I came across Mike on the classicflytying forum I liked just about everything he posted on the forum, He is a very versatile tyer from America with a brilliant website, which Lee alerted me to after the Newark show last year. I really clicked with Mikes flies, and painted record numbers in a very short space of time, if you check his web site you will understand why . Mike sent me three beautiful flies which I saved as a treat for my summer holiday work. I have a few more up my sleeve too and will organise a new collection of Mikes Flies very soon. | ||
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| Greenwell | Notion | Gardener |
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| Golden Eagle | Orange Spey | Rosy Dawn |
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| July 2008 Andy Boekholt : Is a Dutch fly tyer and keen fisherman that I came across on ebay!!! I kept missing out on his auctions (lots of competition) and so contacted him directly to order three, just for starters...... Andy has the most amazing treasure cabinet full of flies I hope I might persuade him to send a photo so I can show them here.. But if not you can check them out on Ronn Lucas Sr. site where he has a showcase. |
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| The three flies from Andy looked so lovely together I painted them just as they were. |
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May 2008 Artemis by Lee Schechter Lee is an American tyer ,The flies he posted on the classic flytying forum looked different to others I had seen and so I was very intrigued to meet hm at the Newark Show last year, Then I realised what it was about his flies, not just that some were MOM flies, no, its the texture, a vital ingrediant of most everything he does, This project has been an interesting journey, in transit the artemis tail had dropped, The first version turned out lovely except I made that fundamental flaw in the tail, Lee came to my aid and sent these two plates of Orvis flies and ideas on how to rescue.Giving it a more vintage look.I really wanted to get this one right and because it was a pleasure to paint in the first place I painted a second. Here are just a few of the resources Lee sent |
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Artemis-
Thanks Lee for sharing the pattern
Tag
Oval silver tinsel |
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Isnt it? Lee Schechters 'Owenmore'. Lee posted this beauty on the flytyingforum to read the feedback it received click here Lee sent sample materials so that I could get the colours right. I have also illustrated Thistle, Judge O Fee and Dream Catcher so only one more and I will have a collection. I will paint alot more of Lees' in the future, Love his flies and he's great to work with too.
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Ted Patlen 'Torrish'
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Updates April 08
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Gigi Peroni
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'5 Easy Pieces' Greg Heister |
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| Newark Spring Fly Fishing Show March 2008 |
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We
like this show, it was an opportunity to learn from, meet and be inspired
by some amazing fly tyers especially Ted Patlen, who kindly gave me
the Torrish to paint, Jens Pilgaard, not only is he a fantastic tyer
but his jewelry and knives are true treasures too. Thorston Struben
and Lee Schechter who both make beautifull flies I'd love to paint.
We had lots of positive feedback and encouragement at the show, some
new opportunities and ideas were discussed, talking about the work was
great just in itself. Thanks to everyone who listened, stopped , advised,
encoraged, chatted, proposed and suggested. A brilliant event that was
good to be part of. Definately see you there next year.
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| Ted Patlen and Andy. Thanks for the fly Ted. | I have a fly by Gigi Pironi to paint for the England Youth Flyfishers Association to then auction. | Lee Schechter, I was looking forward to meeting Lee, who posts on the flytyersforum. gave me 'Artemis' to paint !! :-) |
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| Jens shows me his flies, Totally amazing they were and watching Jens shape and preen them was as good as seeing him tye. | Painting Ted Patlens ' Torrish' at the show. I didnt have as much time to paint this year. I'll post the finished work when it's done. | Meeting a very fine German tyer Thorsten Struben, I look pleased because you might be seeing paintings of his flies in the future. |
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Timelapse October 2007 Back in March, at the Newark show, Jens Pilgaard talked about a talented young tyer called Long Nguyan. So I made contact and eventually Long sent me some beauties, an Assassin and a Blue Doctor, the toppings most lovely I thought, and very tricky, Here is a timelapse of the painting I did from it Its called the Assassin. I will make more of these videos when I get a better video camera.
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Feedback and an article August/September 2007 I posted some work I have been doing over the Summer on the flyTying forum and was amazed at the reaction from the board. Also click this link to flyangler.ca where an article had been posted.
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Damian Welsh - a new collection August 2007
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It is the end of July and I have just completed another collection. For this one I had the very best of resources: the flies, the pics and the ear of the tyer himself, Damian Welsh. I 'll explain cos I think its quite interesting to see how I worked with Damian. I have been mailing and watching out for his work for two years and recently he sent me some stunning flies; an Ackroyd, Thunder and Lightning, Red Rover and three Green Highlanders. It's a terrible thing but some were quite roughed up in transit .Damian was able to send pics, notes and answer questions all via the www. Isn't technology great! I really enjoyed the collaboration I will be painting alot more Damian Welsh flies in the future. |
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Craighellachie Primary School Gallery April 2007 |
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by
Jack
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by
Josh
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by
Marcus
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by
Danie
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by
Lauren
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by
Rachel
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Sometimes
I teach Art in the Primary schools around Speyside and couldn't resist
a little project on a fly theme. The children were all between 7 and
9 yrs old and I think they did a fantastic job.
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The Spring fly fishing show
at Newark March 2007
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chuffed
to meet Dave Carne
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meeting
the legendary Jens Pilgaard
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the classic
fly art team Sarah and Andy with Aunty Pauline
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Back from the Newark Show!
Great to get feedback and encouragement from the public. We came down
from the mountains and had a really positive trip. Thanks to all of
you who stopped by to meet us. A big thank you to the show organisers
who put on a superb event. We will be back next year in 2008. The "Celebration"
is almost finished and I am very pleased with the result. Watch this
space!
The highlight was meeting a lot of very talented individuals like Ted Patlin, Dave Carne, Jens Pilgaard, David Gourong and Allan Bithell to name but a few. Thank you one and all - you have me buzzing about future projects. |
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I exhibited at the Newark Fly Fishing Show on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2007 and launched the website over the weekend I painted one of Davie McPhail's flies, the spectacular Celebration.
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February 2007 and my website is live!! |
