| WILD STEELHEAD FESTIVAL SCULPTURE I was asked by Kent Mackintosh,( you will know him as the man with the salmon sleeve here on the site), to paint a 5 foot fiberglass steelhead trout. Quite an honor if I do say so. He's to be on display at the Bear Republic Brewing Company in the City of Healdsburg and will be part of the attractions for the Wild Steelhead Festival for Februray 6th, 7th and 8th, 2009. Please visit www.healdsburgsteelheadfest.org for more information about the weekend! I wanted to show you the progress of painting "Norbert". Norbert? Where did that come from? Well, if anybody is a Harry Potter fan, they will remember that Norbert was the dragon that hatched from the egg Hagrid traded for. He was an unusual creature that most people wouldn't have in their possesion, kinda seemed like it fit...............so that's how we know the fish. We got Norbert as a base coated statue. I then had to put down a base coat of white followed by silver. From there the fun began! |
| The next part was the trickiest and one that I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of. Alright, I can't take all the credit. I remember watching a Biker Build off and seeing Cory Ness use fish net stockings to add detail to the paint on a gas tank. Would it work for Norbert? That's one big fish, how am I going to get that to work? Well, some safety pins, tape and some patience led me to this.................... |
| This picture cracks me up. Talk about some fish bondage! But honestly, can you imagine painting those scales by hand? He would be done for next year's celebration, not this year's! If I have to do this again, I think I'll sew the stockings on. I was worried about the safety pins scratching the paint. But a little patience and care, and things came out fantastic! |
| The rest of the process went very smooth. (Usually doesn't around here, so that was a nice bonus!) I finished the rest of the airbrush color, and then painted in his spots by hand. I was difficult to paint upside down and gave me a whole new neck pain, but hey, it was worth it in the end! After all the paint was finished, Norbert was delivered to Sparky's Collision Center to be clearcoated. No reason to go thru all that work and have it washed away by the rain! The folks at Sparky's are incredible and I use them for all of my clearcoat work on the helmets you have seen on the site and now for the steelhead. I can't thank them enough for helping me on every project that I have given them. Norbert needed a little polishing, a good waxing and then he was ready to go home to Kent and start his journey. |
| We will be attending the festivities on Sunday and I'll make sure to get some pictures of him in place. Thank you to Kent Mackintosh, and the rest of the members for the opportunity to be a part of such a great project. I hope Norbert brings some awareness to the declining steelhead population that our rivers are facing. If Norbert can help fight the good fight for the fish, then I'm pretty darn proud of him! |
| Norbert was under the big tent at the Wild Steelhead Festival! I love the smaller fish. I'll have to find out more information about those. |
| We went to the Hatchery on Sunday, and look who we found! I had to work Saturday, so Donald got to take the photos of him in Healdsburg. I was so happy to see him in the sun. We got quite a few nice comments on how great he looked and I must admit, he looked fabulous. I was pretty darn proud of him! I can thank the people of the Wild Steelhead Festival enough for having us be a part of this. It was a ton of fun and for that I am grateful! I hear Norbert might be on tour for a little while.........let me know if you have a Norbert sighting! |
