The Abutments:  I was happy when my husband asked me to do a landscape watercolor for a book he’s working on.  He provided a photo of old bridge abutments, once found on the East Branch Neversink, across from the Frost Valley YMCA farm along Denning Road.  Climate change and high water has destroyed these; sadly, only rocky remnants remain.

I sat in front of this with brush in hand for three hours, as I wanted my efforts to be loose and artsy, but still recognizable.  It was completed in one sitting with a few tweaks here and there.

The Abutments (NFS):

My husband's book, The Wanderings of a Mountain Fly Fisher: Tales from a Catskill Eddy and Other Trout Waters, was published by Epigraph Books in early 2022.

Bomber & Hardy:  An underwater photo of a recent fishing outing my husband made, caught my eye, begging to be painted.  I thought the shapes and lines made an interesting composition.  These colorful trout can be a fun diversion from my typical landscapes.  He titled the watercolor “Bomber and Hardy”, which left me with questions needing answers.  I had to ask him, what’s an Ausable Bomber and why do you need so many Hardy reels?  This watercolor appeared in the September 2021 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

 Bomber & Hardy:

 

Wintoon Waters:  Wintoon Waters--- on the West Branch of the Neversink--- has a deep, rich, Catskill history, long cherished by fly fishers and other nature lovers alike.  The Stone House, which resides along Schofield Brook, serves as the final resting place of Julius Caesar, a notorious ten-and-a-half-pound brown trout skillfully removed from these gin clear, blue-ribbon trout waters on September 4^th, 1960.  These days the pocket water across from the Stone House serves as home to brook, brown and rainbow trout, as well as landlocked salmon.

Wintoon: Stone House pockets:

Biscuit Brook Weir:  The Biscuit Brook Weir is but a foggy memory to the few who knew its existence.  It’s been almost a full decade since Hurricane Irene destroyed it in 2011, and Pigeon Lodge alongside the stream dam.  There aren’t many anglers still about who can recall it, or tell stories of BIG BROWN TROUT that used to live under the wall on the left side of the Weir.  The late Chuck White, a Frost Valley YMCA employee, eyes would glow as he told of his encounters with these mammoth brown trout.  

So, if you ever going searching for this structure, it’s not to be found except in the image of this watercolor below.  This watercolor appeared in the July 2021 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Biscuit Brook Weir (NFS):

Woodchuck Lodge:  The watercolor below was donated to a John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge fund-raising online auction.  John Burroughs was an American naturalist and author of many fascinating essays about the mountains he wandered, a Catskill hero of ours.

One of Burroughs' favorite trout streams was the Rondout Creek.  In his essay, "A Bed of Boughs" the author wrote, "If I were a trout, I should ascend every stream till I found the Rondout."  He went on to write, "The finishing touch is given by the moss with which the rock is everywhere carpeted."  

The landscape below features a cane flyrod, built using a classic Catskill taper--- the Leonard 39-5, laying midstream on a moss covered rock.  It appeared in the May 2021 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

The Rock (DtC):

Canoes:  A small lightweight watercraft, usually propelled by muscle power and paddle alone.  Once the mode of water transportation for Native Americans; now-a-days perhaps the carrier of a traveler, angler, or even a romantic wanderer.  Often found bouncing along an Adirondack dock or leaning on a sandy beach as waves lap against it's hull.

The canoe:

Olana State Historic Site:  The former estate of Frederick Church, a Hudson River School landscape artist, is one of our favorite places to hike, and wander about.  Below is a Hudson River view, as seen from the rear of the Olana historic mansion.

Olana Hudson: