Brown Trout and Nature, One Beautiful Painting


Brown Trout Abstract, 2 (Commissioned)
This painting was commissioned by a client who loved my work, but desired something more abstract as a centerpiece for her new living room. As we discussed the parameters of what she was looking for, she wanted the painting to tie in to her brick red kitchen and convey a strong feeling of movement.
Since I work in a range of abstraction, we narrowed down some of my previous paintings that were favorites. Naturally my Brown Trout Abstract was one of the top picks (I already knew the colors of the brown trout would fit perfectly for her needs!) and this also helped give me a sense of how abstract I could push things to fit her taste. Below is a collection of some imagery that helped inspire this painting to come to life:

The photo of the fish jumping was my main compositional inspiration- such power, fluidity, and aggression- it felt like a wonderful sense of movement for a vertical canvas…then the colors and patterns of the brown trout itself made its way into the work, as well as the coloring of a beautiful fall landscape. In the end, this painting is about the trout, water, the sky, and our own personal interpretation of that inexplicable beauty; the power of nature.

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NEW! Becca’s first Bass painting

Sunlit Bass, 16″ x 20″, acrylic on canvas, $700.
I’ve had way too many requests to paint a smallmouth bass not to have one in the gallery! Finally after months of images on my wall, I chose to concentrate on the skin and distinct dorsal fins of the smallmouth. The amber-olive colors really come out in the sun, so I worked to inject those colors here. Definitely more to come from this species…
Let me know what you think!

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Brown Trout Skin Series, 3

Becca’s newest acrylic painting: Brown Trout Skin Series, 3. Acrylic paint on canvas, 24″ x 30″, $1,000. All originals available for sale can be seen here in the Gallery

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NEW Rainbow Trout painting!

New Zealand Rainbow, 3 canvases: 30″x24″, 30″x40″, 30″x24″, oil paint on canvas.

My latest oil painting New Zealand Rainbow was commissioned by an angler who wanted something spectacular to remind him of his fly fishing trip of a lifetime. The rainbow trout itself was of course inspiration, but also the place where it was caught. The photos given to me were amazing on their own and as I heard the story unfold, “the water went from gin clear to green, looking up to see the mountains, the sun was shining, the colors, the waterfalls,” I knew this painting needed to capture the experience- memories that only he who was there retained and what I could only imagine.

The vision was almost instant: The fish- strong, athletic, fins pierced by the sun, a spectrum of colors only nature can produce
The landscape- loose and story-like

Then it was time to mix some paint and let it all happen…

In the painting lines work to evoke motion of the water, bends in the river, arcs in a cast…marks of paint allude to water rushing, wind blowing, capturing colors of the rocks, water, trees, flowers,…all of these coming together to create the form of the fish and landscape- holding true to the trout while containing so much more. While working from the main source photo, my job is to bring it to life. Based on the description of the fish and location I played up colors and proportions to convey a feeling of movement in each individual panel as well as the painting as a whole. I slightly altered the perspective of the head, like the trout is just spotting a fly to snatch over to his left. That action then bends into the middle panel, where the proportion is zoomed in closer on the fish while giving the impression the midsection is swaying closer to you. The action then arcs back into the tail panel- kicked back as you anticipate the impending rush as the trout propels forward to reach his snack.


Dispersed in all of this is the paint itself, abstract language that is best translated by the viewer…to do that, keep looking, ask questions about what you see and how it makes you feel. Together these elements are working to take your eye through the painting- it is a narrative on the New Zealand experience and also the excitement of every time being out on the water.

It is a sincere honor when asked to do a special painting for someone, and what pleasure this was to get to take such beauty and bring it to life on canvas!!

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Gallery Updates

SOLD WORKS

Congratulations to the new owners of original Becca Schlaff paintings!

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The Story Behind The Painting…

As many of you have noticed, Madison Brown Trout has been slated as “Artists Collection”. Well, yes indeed this it true.

This may sound funny, but it never occurred to me to keep a painting for my own- as much as I love each and every one- I’ve realized Madison has reserved a very special place in my heart. At an art show this past June, a patron was studying this painting closely, inquiring, then ultimately revealing a purchase was being contemplated. I panicked. Not jumping out of my seat flailing my arms , screaming out loud kind of thing…but everything inside of me DROPPED, like my organs were hanging from a noose. Paralyzed and fighting dramatic overreaction I just squeaked out “uh, hmmm”. I was able to form a few more sentences and we talked about the work then the conversation ended with him saying “I love it, I’m going to think about it”- I could have kissed the man.

Without a final sale, when I got home from the show I hung the painting on my wall and knew it would never leave. Madison Brown Trout was one of my first paintings where I had began pushing my own personal boundaries as an artist. The composition initially started in the vertical, in this I painted abstract collages of imagery of water- finding associations of the ripples in the waves to ridges in the sand, the rocks of the shoreline- color of the sky, its interplay within the motion of the water- translucency. I was abstracting to the point of interjecting my own personal response to water, the inexplicable “awe” of it, that intrigue and discovery was being laid out in emotional marks of paint. While I had pictures of water tacked on the wall next to me, the process became less about painting the pictures and what I saw- it became about what I remembered when being in the places where the pictures where taken and how it made me feel. The next step was flipping the canvas to the horizontal layout (as it is now) and then looking at photos I had of a Madison Brown Trout. Granted, I did not catch this fish, but the coloring of the fish and his interplay with the water brought out the same emotional response as when I was simply looking at imagery of water alone. I was awe struck. I began finding connections between what was already on my canvas to the fish image I was now looking at- rocks became the spots of the trout, sand and waves outlined the scales of the fish, textures married from the jagged outline of a rocky shore to the fluid liquid drips from the trouts belly. I was gone. These subtle yet poignant connections between the fish and the natural world became my drug, and ultimately took my process as an artist to a new level.

Bottom line, I knew I needed that painting forever. I feel lucky I didn’t learn it the hard way. The next time you are looking at artwork think about it: what if someone else took it home. If you feel a stab in your gut you will know you’ve connected to the work- buy it- because original paintings truly are once in a lifetime.

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American Angler

Becca’s artwork is featured in the Sept/Oct issue of American Angler magazine! Click on the cover to read the article.

Awesome!

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Lake Michigan beauty

Back from a fantastic week long vacation in beautiful northern Michigan! Boating, swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, biking…and red wine drinking taking in sunsets like this. Life is good!!

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NEW Tarpon Painting

Peaceful and aggressive all at the same time. Tarpon Rise, 18″ x 24″, acrylic on canvas. See it in the Gallery here. Contact Becca for purchasing information.

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Gallery Updates

SOLD WORKS

Congratulations to the new owners of original Becca Schlaff paintings!

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