Nick that is a terrific fish. We have steelhead that look just like that here in our area. The color is so soft and natural it is really unbelievable! I want to know how long did it take you to paint this steelhead? We are thinking about sending our son to your teacher for leasons and now it really is a done deal. I want to know did you learn enough to be able to do this quality of work with out Mr. Krane's direction. We see lots of nice work and there are lots of people who teach but when you get home some times it is diffrent. I really think your work is really good and Mr. Krane does a great job teaching I just want to know what you think of your time and what you learned.
Debbie and Stan
Debbie,
Thanks for the compliment. From start to finish, including the prep work on the fiberglass blank, it took about 3-4 days...one reason why it took longer than usual was because I was working on a brown trout in conjunction with the repo. This took some time as I was learning to carve a body and how to mount a real fish. I used normal paint just like everybody else on the steelhead...it's how the paint is applied and interpreted that makes the fish come to life and look as good as it does. I got a lot of information about fish anatomy and reference...that's probably the most important thing Rick taught me. Even on reproductions it's very important. I'd say that I'm confident now in my ability to do a fish and am planning on doing another repo here very soon. I'll post pictures of it which will be a representation of how good Rick's teaching was. Overall I was very satisfied with what I got and am planning on going back next year to learn more about warm water fish..specifically, anatomical features, etc. He definitely won't sit next to your son and cuddle you and paint your fish...he takes a lot of pride in his student's work and will motivate your son to put in 110% in his fish mounts. However, he won't let your son mount a fish without having the information and basic foundations necessary to do an "outstanding" fish mount. As far as being able to do it without Rick's direction, I'm sure I will have to call him once or twice with a question as we're always learning new things in this industry. I don't think anybody can fully master taxidermy as we're always in a learning mode (at least I hope everybody is trying to learn something new). But I know I can mount a really good fish and paint a reproduction on my own, which I credit to Rick's teachings. If you're interested in sending your son to one of his workshops, I would definitely give him a call. His number is 1-603--336-7296. He can send you photos of all his student's work. Really nice guy to talk to...he is really involved in teaching and does a lot for our fish taxidermist's community. Also, keep checking sometime for my brown trout....he should post a photo of it sometime this week...it took longer to work on because of drying, fish body carving, etc, but the end result was spectacular...I don't know which one is better than the other lol Drop me a line as well if you want to see some photos of my workshop...think I have about 200+ photos lol I think your son will definitely love his time spent with Rick!
Best regards,
Nick
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