Life Size Arapaima comes to Life

by | Dec 29, 2014 | arapaima artwork | 3 comments

blog-Dec-29-2014-1-jeff-currier-fish-artwork-arapaimaIn March my friend Jed Mixter of Jackson, WY caught a 68” arapaima in Guyana and commissioned me for a life size painting.  I work in watercolor and I couldn’t find quality paper in this size to suit my style.  I spent hours on the internet looking for answers.  A few years ago I had fun with pastel and looked into the option of this for my medium on this arapaima. Sure enough I found paper.

blog-Dec-29-2014-2a-jeff-currier-fish-artMy next dilemma was that I’d never caught or handled an arapaima.  Jed’s pics were ok but pics do not do a fish justice.  You just don’t get a feel for the REAL colors.  By miracle, in November I went arapaima fishing and had the great pleasure of holding three of my own.  Upon return I was ready for this challenge and I spent the last three weeks completing the monster piece of fish art!

blog-Dec-29-2014-2b-jeff-currier-fish-artworkStarted with that crazy looking arapaima head.

blog-Dec-29-2014-3-arapaima-fish-artJust kept on going from there.

blog-Dec-29-2014-4-arapaima-artToo many scales on these amazing fish!

blog-Dec-29-2014-5-arapaima-artowrkThe tail would be the most challenging artwork of my life!

blog-Dec-29-2014-6-arapaima-art-by-jeff-currierAh. . . .  Success!

blog-Dec-29-2014-7-jeff-currier-arapaima-artworkThe arapaima was truly coming together after two weeks of consuming our kitchen!

blog-Dec-29-2014-8-jeffcurrier-arapaima-artworkCompleted December 28, 2014!

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

3 Comments

  1. Pierre

    Nice piece Jeff.

    Now let’s go have a beer.

  2. Jeff

    I was planning a brew around 4 today. Give me a ring.

  3. David McKenzie

    Happy new year Jeff. Just finished catching up on your blogs from the past couple of months. Amazing!

Welcome to the Blog of Jeff Currier!

Contact Jeff

I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!

Archives

Sponsors