This page documents a January challenge from 1 to 21 day of 2026 (last to first). It is a watercolor exploration of looseness, observation, and play with full dress salmon flies. These works are part of an ongoing practice and are not for sale.  The flies themselves were tied by Eric Austin, whose work appears in classic fly archives and who currently serves on the board of Fly Fishers International.

January Fly Challenge — Closing Reflection

This January challenge began as a simple commitment: to paint one small fly study each day. What it became was a lesson in attention, endurance, and trust.

By repeating a single subject, I stopped chasing variety and started listening more closely — to the materials, to the process, and to my own energy. Some days the work came easily; other days it did not. The point was not consistency of outcome, but consistency of showing up.

Seen together, these paintings record more than individual flies. They mark days of focus, hesitation, discovery, and release. The changes you see are not planned progressions, but honest responses to the same form, revisited again and again.

This project is complete. What it leaves behind is not a formula for what comes next, but confidence that careful, daily work — even in small measures — is enough.