Drawing Flies 52 Hendrickson(s). Chisel-point pen with watercolor.

Tech info: Pen and ink with watercolor on Pentalic paper. Long story as to why this fly was so late, but to get it done while it was still Thursday, I had to remind myself of the “Three Rules” of Drawing Flies 52: 1) Agree on a fly. 2) Draw for a max of 30 minutes. 3) There are no other rules. It was that third Rule that saved me.

I’ve been working on a number of projects (too many, really), not the least of which is the monster book series with my father. I’ve been sometimes overwhelmed with all that’s on my plate, and tonight was, well, overwhelming. I couldn’t get my head around how exactly I wanted to do the Hendrickson, so I worked on other things for a while. That turned into hours, and I finally realized that Jeff’s fly had probably been up for half the day, so decided that I had to get something going, no matter what.

I grabbed my paints and a pad of watercolor paper, intent on doing something fairly straightforward. I got five minutes into “straightforward,” and it was a disaster. My mind was racing on a hundred other ideas and I couldn’t make the brush do anything that I wanted it to do. So, I stopped for a few minutes and then remembered Rule #3 (funny how the obvious stuff sometimes eludes us).

So, I folded up the watercolor paper, grabbed my Pentalic pad, opened my pen caddy, and pulled out my chisel-point 3.5mm Pigma. Odd that I chose that pen, since it was new and I had never used it for a single drawing. I didn’t care. I also didn’t care about being all “artist-like” and just threw down some visuals that were in my head. I let the pen do what it does and tried a few angles and pressures as it went. I wanted a drawing that just “was.” I ended up with three drawings, none of which were “normal” for how a fly might be portrayed (the middle fly is my favorite of the three).

I then chased the pen work with an equally off-the-cuff watercolor effort, laying in the saturated wing and tail colors first. I then balanced that out with some slabs of medium blue, and completed the color work by dragging a wet brush through the pen, giving me a pale gray. To add some visual interest, I slipped in a few white highlights, and then loaded the brush with purple and green, respectively, and did some spatter work over the top of everything.

I fully realize that this type of fast, “sketchy” work doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I personally liked both the freedom of just “running with it,” as well as the end result. While DF 52 Rules #1 and #2 are key to the way this project works, I have to give a little “thanks” to Rule #3 tonight!

Jeff’s Hendrickson is here. A classic “Kennedy” piece that just looks right for the fly. The moody background reminds of those Great Lakes days when the Hendricksons are hatching and there is thunder on the way. I can almost smell the rain, Jeff….