For quite a while I have been thinking about this project. The idea for ArtCreel has been swimming around in my head for about a year and a half. I've been wanting to create a place on the web, separate from my landscapes, to share my angling art with everyone. Sometime between the original idea and January 2009, I had the thought that it would be a lot of fun to build a site where anglers and sporting art enthusiasts could come and find a wide variety of fly fishing art, from a myriad of talented artists. The idea has now been carried out and I'm really excited to announce, ArtCreel.com is the result.
This is a collaborative effort, involving a very patient, helpful wife, a son who's reminded me of the html I've forgotten, some great programmers, and a bunch of wonderful artists who were interested in the vision for ArtCreel and enthusiastic about having their work added to our online shop.
I feel priveledged to have my angling art shown alongside veterans like Peter Corbin and Al Barnes. It's a pleasure to have Joe Tomelleri's prints on ArtCreel as well. Although I've been getting Joe's calendars in my Christmas stocking every year for six years, I didn't know I'd been completely transposing the letters in his last name when I would say it. Joe was patient with those first few emails where I was butchering it (I was spelling it wrong too), and politely let me know I had it skiwampus. Some other stellar artists, each with their own style have also come aboard, including AD Maddox, Derek DeYoung and John Koch. In the coming months we'll be adding a few more as well.
ArtCreel.com is a place to find exactly what you're looking for in a fly fishing print. Our goal is to find and showcase the most fresh and interesting work we can find out there. We also want to make the process of discovering that one piece that really "floats your driftboat", as simple as possible. Whether you're looking for pictures of fish, anglers, rivers, flies, or something in between, we've made a real effort out of trying to simplify the path to that one piece you just have to have.
Some people are intimidated by "art", and don't think they know anything about it. If I could scream out one thing about art collecting to the whole world, it would be to follow the one rule that trumps all the others. That rule is: "Buy what you like"! Just as almost everybody has a preference for music, or movies, they will also have a preference for art. And the more you look, the more you hone in on what you know you like. We want to help you on that path and anticipate that you'll come back to ArtCreel.com often. We hope you'll sign up for a feed here at The ArtCreel Blog, and we'll occasionally update you on...whatever's on our mind if it has to do with fly fishing and art.
Thanks for taking a peek at the blog and the site. This has been the most marathon 7 weeks of my life since I decided to dive in and take on this project. But looking at the results and hearing the early comments, it has been well worth it.
Enjoy!
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