The Week in Fish Pictures" ~Year 3~ Week 17

[Rick Krane]

The Week in Fish Pictures" ~Year 3~ Week 17

A big Warm Welcome from Hinsdale New Hampshire!!! Here it is almost the end of the first month of this New Year! Has any one been ice fishing or who has taken in the first new fish or clients this year. I ask the questions as part of a thought I have to see if we can help one another out not only with fish pictures but to share some information on how we go about marketing our business.

I’ll start off with an idea I use. With the advent of email I send out to all clients who have email or have given me email address the new Anglers Artistry 2009 commitment letter to serve which describes what we do and the cost related to serve it also talks about avg time of turn around and we share some recent client fish photos form 2008. I have learned this often generates about 7% of new business for me.

I thought I would throw this opportunity there as it goes hand in hand to inspire with picture and to help grow the business and the industry a bit more. Free information is wonderful for how to paint a fish or do this or that but often times the “taxidermy” is the easiest thing you’ll do in this business. It is the business end that needs the work so let help each other out with great pictures and an idea or tow of great business ideas that work for you!

So many Talented and gifted fish artists come here each and every week and share with us their passion and inspiration we all can use to motivate us to the next level of satisfaction and success!

Let’s start of the week recognizing those who shared their wonderful work with all of us!

Ray Bryant!! Super Smallie welcome to the family Ray!

Don Patton!! Now there is a different fish most don’t get to see often! Cool paint work on the Tiger trout!

Just fish!!! Very fishy Smallie! Well done Kevin!!!!! Very fishy!!!

Travis Jones!!! In the words of our good friend Randy K from Georgia that’s “Jack Hammer’!!!!!

Wild Bill!! What a great Rainbow you have done for this week! Great work my friend!

Anglers Artisans!!! Rich you know what I love about you’re work… it comes in 2’s! Super gifts from the creator you share with all of us thank you!

MK!!! Love to see the Cats! Well done sir!

Garyc71!!! A blue cat to boot! Sweeeeeet!!!!

Brian Watson!!! It was so nice to talk to you the other day! Big Bass you got there! Well done!

Wishbone!!! A fantastic group of Walleyes!!

Oliver F!!! European barbell is a cool fish to mold and cast! Can’t wait to see the finished fish!  Love your work and enjoy your talent!

Idiotsavant!!!! Well done my friend on the Crappies Very soft and love the hydrodynamic movement of the fish as it relates to the story of the depiction! Well done!

Ryan Rhodes!!! A Strip-ha from New England! A man after my own heart! Well do Ryan on your Striped Bass! The Smallie is pretty great too!

Many!! Love this Crappie! Very soft as well and great shape too!

Pete Szymborski!!! Way cool fish display!!!! I love it!!! We are playing phone tag give a call next week!

DBess!!!! What a beautiful Steelhead! Man that really looks like a Steelie!! Well done!

Sparkyf!! Mark now I have to step back a moment and complement you and congratulate you for innovation and efficacy! This is a great example of what I started of this week with about share new idea that makes our business better! Well done! Oh Yes your fish is way cool too! Thank you!!

I want to thank all of the great contributors who really show not only great talent and work but rather give such inspiration to all of us!
A great week Fishheads!!!!!
 
From beginner's to the best in the world we all join in every week in a critique free and hassle free string with nothing more then great artist and inspiring fish taxidermist and carves get together to share with one another their praise and inspiration of good will and friendship to one another.

I want to start this week off with the A new Taxidermist and a recent student here at Anglers Artistry Mr. Jonathan Hopfgarten of Kingston, Massachusetts! Jonathan is a great young man with old school drive and ambition for sure! Jonathan is Elk and fishing Guild in Montana and from the pictures he shared with me he is a very successful one at that! Jonathan worked on molding and casting custom body carving and lots of other cool stuff!! I hope you enjoy the work of Jonathan Hopfgarten!
So here goes!

I hope you enjoy the week!
So with out further ado let's get week #17 under way.

So here we go and here is to a great week in fish pictures!!!! #17 Enjoy!

My Best!
Your Friend
 
Rick Krane
Anglers Artistry
312 Chesterfield Road
Hinsdale, New Hampshire 03451
Office: 603-336-7296
Web: www.anglersartistry.com

Here is Jonathan with is custom mounted Brown Tout!



 
 
 
 
 

[DougP]

Jonathan, great start on your brown What an opportunity to be able to work with Rick Krane!! I'm envious!!

Rick,  and all the "fish heads", a belated "Thank You!" for the nice comments on my musky contribution from last week. If you are going to be in Illinois I would love to be able to connect with you for some "fish talk".......let me know where you will be.

Here's a 45" replica pike from Tim Wynia. Great mouth detail with see-through gills. My only issue, I guess, is that it is Very heavy.

This fish was a very dark specimen and was painted from a customer pic. I spent a lot of time trying to get the right "look" and didn't really get as close as I would have liked. Just did the best I could. Oh well....

[Oliver F.]

Hello fishheads,
dougp, what a nice pike. One of the best I´ve ever seen. Rick, thank´s for your kind words. I post the custom cast of a european barbel from last week again, but this time with some paint on. Unfortunately the photo doesn´t show all of the colors. There are a lot more golds, greens and silvers in it, especially on the head. I have a hard time taking good pictures. Eyes are custom painted using liquid scales.

Everybody have a nice week

Greetings from Germany

Oliver

[Oliver F.]

...and another one

[nate]

Doug that pike is "SMOKIN"

[jemmick]

All really inspirational fish but Oliver you really captured that barbel !!!!

[sparkyf]

Wow, what a start!!!!!

[UFD]

Rick, I really like your marketing idea - way to hussle!  Sorry that I don't have any wisdom that comes to mind for bringing in new work right now as I am in the major "catch-up and get the back log within reason" mode.

Jonathan, great start to your fish, can't wait to see them done.

Doug, that Pike is as natural as I have seen and your client is getting something extra special with that one.  I could look at that one every time I walked by it, and it would hold a special place on my wall (even if I needed to add extra bracing to hold it up - LOL).

Oliver, super looking Barbel!  It sure is cool to see the blank last week and the finished fish this week.  Wow, awesome looking paint scheme for sure.

For this week, here is a Steelhead skin mount that I finished up earlier in the week.  My client wanted the scars represented just as on the fish when he caught it.  I see quite a few scars on the Salmon and Steelhead that I do, and it is always a treat when someone wants them on the finished fish because it sure makes the fish more interesting to look at and represents it as the individual fish it was in real life.  I thought I would put up a couple pictures of the fish to show how different a fish mount can look in both color and shape depending upon the viewing angle...

[UFD]

...and here's an even more extreme angle to better show the curve of the fish and change in the color:

[garyc71]

Wow, those are some beautiful fish so far!! Here is a 20 pound Largemouth Bass chasing a 11 inch Bluegill.

[Oliver F.]

Wow UFD,
what a nice mount!! I really like, that you left the scars on that fish. That´s something that makes a mount unique. I think when a customer wants the "perfect fish" he already brings it with him. That´s what I try to talk my customers into. Why should we change it into cosmeticaly better? You may take away a story that stands behind it. Great work!!

[dsmithgall]

GReat work everyone- Dave, your steelhead are awesome....I don't know what else to say... truly awesome....I will be in touch with you soon for another blank

[Marc]

All the fish look great.

 Doug, Dave, Oliver............................your fish are above and beyond. WOW!

[DSalters]

Oliver, everything about the head of your fish looks stunning!  It looks as realistic as can be!

[DanB]

Doug, Oliver, UFD, WOW!