About the Artist
I was born in California and grew up in Colorado. I began fishing on camping trips to the Rockies with my dad when I was six years old, and it didn’t take me long to fall in love with rushing rivers, nature, and the excitement of fishing. By early adolescence, fly fishing had become an obsession that combined my passion for art and science into one perfect sport.
My artistic expression began with fly tying. With a few tips from my dad and a handful of feathers, I began teaching myself how to tie flies. I spent countless hours designing flies and then testing them on the wary trout of the South Platte River.
In the winter of 2004, while living on the Olympic Peninsula, I discovered watercolors as a way of expressing my love for fish and fly fishing. Watercolors are the perfect medium to capture the vivid colors and subtle textures of trout. I look to nature’s perfect forms, patterns, and reflections for ideas. Of course, my greatest inspiration will always come from a day on the river, casting to rising trout.
Photography is another means of creative expression that I use to capture the significance of each day spent streamside. I base many of my paintings on my own photographs.
I am very fortunate to have a career as a fisheries biologist, which allows me to indulge my obsessions. This has led me all over the West Coast, from studying steelhead in Big Sur to counting chum salmon from a helicopter in Alaska.
Currently, I have a few paintings on display at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz, California. Additionally, I am working on illustrations for the California Department of Fish and Game Heritage Trout Program. See more of my work online at Troutfin Studio, http://www.markajessop.com/index.htm.
Mark Jessop
