While walking around the Fly Fishing Show in Raleigh, North Carolina a couple weekends ago I took a few minutes to meet Dave and Emily Whitlock and was nothing but impressed. They are both such kind people and took the time to speak to everyone that came to their booth to talk about Dave's artwork and fly fishing.
When I walked up to their booth space, Dave was putting finishing touches on a warmwater piece and it was neat to see him work with pencil and brush.
The style of Dave's artwork hard to nail down since there certainly is quite a lot of detail but there also there is almost a cartoon feel which certainly makes his pieces one of a kind.
Prints of all sizes were offered for sale along with presentation flies of Dave's own patterns. There were also small bookmarks and index card sized autographed cards with small copies of several prints for the taking to those that spent a few minutes at the Whitlock booth.
I was fortunate to catch a neat exchange between Dave and a fellow named Stan who had brought with him a cherished copy of Dave's book, the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing For Bass Handbook and asked for him to autograph it.
What started as a simple autograph request turned into a personal note written by Dave.
Much to Stan's surprise this autograph and note turned into an impromptu sketch of a largemouth bass finished off with a bit of red coloring pencil to the eye for dramatic effect.
Stan took the book from Dave and was nothing short of elated. He provided a little bit of background on why this book was so special to he and his family...
"My Father-in-Law and his Father-in-Law fished for bass several weeks every summer on a lake about a half hour drive from the L.L. Bean store in Portland, Maine. He bought the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing for Bass Handbook, written by Dave Whitlock, to help him catch bass on a nine weight fly rod. Years later when I started fly fishing at the lake, he passed his nine weight fly rod, his collection of bass flies, and the Whitlock Handbook to me. This year I hope to go to Maine again and fly fish the lake with my sons and nephew. This "personalized" copy of this book, along with the nine weight and flies, will be passed on to the next generation."
This exchange between Dave and Stan solidified my thoughts that the Whitlock's are nothing short of a class act.
For each person that bought a print Dave would take a few minutes to personalize it with his signature and then a small piece of artwork which might be a fly or fish done in pen and pencil to further make their print special and one of a kind.
Meeting the Dave and Emily Whitlock was certainly one of the highlights of the show for me and I look forward to seeing them again.
When I walked up to their booth space, Dave was putting finishing touches on a warmwater piece and it was neat to see him work with pencil and brush.
The style of Dave's artwork hard to nail down since there certainly is quite a lot of detail but there also there is almost a cartoon feel which certainly makes his pieces one of a kind.
Prints of all sizes were offered for sale along with presentation flies of Dave's own patterns. There were also small bookmarks and index card sized autographed cards with small copies of several prints for the taking to those that spent a few minutes at the Whitlock booth.
I was fortunate to catch a neat exchange between Dave and a fellow named Stan who had brought with him a cherished copy of Dave's book, the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing For Bass Handbook and asked for him to autograph it.
What started as a simple autograph request turned into a personal note written by Dave.
Much to Stan's surprise this autograph and note turned into an impromptu sketch of a largemouth bass finished off with a bit of red coloring pencil to the eye for dramatic effect.
Stan took the book from Dave and was nothing short of elated. He provided a little bit of background on why this book was so special to he and his family...
"My Father-in-Law and his Father-in-Law fished for bass several weeks every summer on a lake about a half hour drive from the L.L. Bean store in Portland, Maine. He bought the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing for Bass Handbook, written by Dave Whitlock, to help him catch bass on a nine weight fly rod. Years later when I started fly fishing at the lake, he passed his nine weight fly rod, his collection of bass flies, and the Whitlock Handbook to me. This year I hope to go to Maine again and fly fish the lake with my sons and nephew. This "personalized" copy of this book, along with the nine weight and flies, will be passed on to the next generation."
This exchange between Dave and Stan solidified my thoughts that the Whitlock's are nothing short of a class act.
For each person that bought a print Dave would take a few minutes to personalize it with his signature and then a small piece of artwork which might be a fly or fish done in pen and pencil to further make their print special and one of a kind.
Meeting the Dave and Emily Whitlock was certainly one of the highlights of the show for me and I look forward to seeing them again.
5 comments:
Very cool! Seen him on a few fishing shows... always a class act.
Enjoyed this a lot. I always look forward to the Whitlocks being at the Denver show.
Stan and I had an almost identical experience with Dave. I took my copy of the same book and Dave personalized mine in the very same way. I posted it on my blog back in the fall. Check it out: http://naturalistsangle.blogspot.com/2010/10/naturalists-bookshelf.html
Very nice.
So inspiring to see an artist who not only crosses the boundries of art-making but also respects his audience.
Thanks.
met dave at a chicago fly fishing show in the 90s,bought a book and he gave my young daughter a fly.the show was not very well attended so we had time to chat a bit.de mystified a lot of things about flyfishing for me. i have read and reread anything with his name on it.almost every time i fly fish a pond i think how would dave approach this situation.
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