The Artistic flies of Mark Romero

[willowhead]

Wait'll ya see the next two.........it'll be a pair of flies again. No beads involved. i did them a few months ago.

[tie2fish]

I like both the fly and the photo, Mark. Especially nice job on the "thorax" area IMHO, and you've done some good "mallard management with the front collar -- I find that stuff difficult to work with.

[kanutripr]

I'm with Bill. That mallard is difficult and you have a wonderful soft explosion of it there. This fly reminds me of sitting next to a beautiful fountain on a hot summer's day.



Vicki

[willowhead]

Thank guys.....Mallard is a bitch to work with in terms of collars.....but i use it so much and all the others like it.....that i guess i'm just used to dealing/fighting/grappling, with it.....so i've learned to make it do what i SAY it's gonna do. Thass all it is.......
i just finished a fly for the Sowbug collection, where i used it............i'll post a pic of it after the next pic that's goin' here.....of the two flies together. Those pics have been taken (by me), already.....when Misako wakes up, we'll get it outta the camera, on to her hardrive, over to my email, on to my hard drive, and then here. That's the standard pain the arse routine. She wants all pics on her hardrive as well as mine. She's a pack rat..... But it's actually good, because she does "Folders" and keeps everything incredably well organized............i'm not into that..........unless it's materials.

[willowhead]

Well, as it turned out, none of the pics i took were good enough.....i didn't like them well enough i mean. So, Misa too a couple more and this is one of them. Both of these two flies are pretty good examples of that technique i was tellin' you about where i fold the tip of the feather back and strap it in that way, thereby incorporating what might normally get clipped out and chucked.....or if not chucked, used for tailing on another fly. It's pretty easy to see here. In the case of these two, i have fairly substancial tips folded back.....other times that part is not that serious, and so it doesn't look as noticeable as it is here. i like it both way when it'll work. Sometimes it's just not something that will add to the over-all look of the fly(s)...........
i used blue ink on the JC tail of the fly on the left. it shows at the tip of the feather much better in hand than in this pic. Anway.....i just LOVE Barred Woddy. There's no end to what you can do with it, and i have LOTS! One thing Arkansas has.......DUCK hunters. So sometimes i just get on a kick tyin' with it. .....btw.....these were tyed over a year ago.....click the pic

[kanutripr]

What you were thinking with these latest flies. I've got an idea about them but there's something not right about it. They are amazingly BIG. I don't mean size, I mean presence. I'm really curious about your thought process concerning them. I want to say they remind me of a couple of old jazz performers, flashy and big and full of life in fedoras and pinstripes but I'm not quite sure. Maybe a little too flashy for that? There's just something I can't put my finger on. Talk to me baby.....



Vicki

[willowhead]

Vicki, it's a bit hard for me to know where to start...........there's lots of things at play. For one thing, i sometimes just get sick and tired of tyin' with beads....... don't misunderstand.....i LOVE to tye with the beads.......but because the bead is so important and dominating and influencial in a tye that uses one.........sometimes i just have to get away from that.............also, if i haven't used a certain material in a while..........i just get a hankerin' to use it. Two things can happen. i'll just "know" what i'm lookin' for, and go find it.........or, i'll just be lookin' per say, for anything.........just "something" different. And i'll be led right to it......just find it AH HA! So the bottom line is just, "i gotta do something different"..........different than different........... cause all my **** is different. Good thing i know at least YOU, understand all that..........................now go head, make a joke. To me, all that stuff aint nothin' but water off a duckx back anyway. i like it when MFers joke bout my flies.......beats the hell outta havin' no opinion at all.
The other side of the coin within the question you asked is this. If you understand anything.......or even a little bout what imporvisation really is.......you could probably answer your own question. When you improvise, you use all you senses, all your past experiences, all your emotions, your memories, your love, EVERYTHING..............and you face your dreams, wishes, fears & doubts, and inadaquecies(sp?), EVERYTHING. And you try to do your best to express whatever it is that's most important in THAT moment, with split second timming, or NOW!.....without hesitation. Sure (in fly tying), you can take you time and think things through in terms of design, construction, and execution.....which naturally you will...........to one degree or the other.........but what i'm gettin' at is this. i never want to loose the flow of an idea and have it go up in smoke. So once i begin a fly, i pretty much try to keep it goin' until it's finished and just let the music (which is always on) just take over, so-to-speak. i'm always finding myself doin' wraps to the rythum of the moment, lol.
i don't like to over-plan anything.........that's not improvisation. And since my flies do not represent my rendition of, "All the Things You Are, or "On Green Dolphin Street" or "Bags Groove" or "Stella By Starlight" or ANY of the thousands of classic standards (of which i know every single one by heart), OR the more modern repertiore, (also committed to memory), yet they do represent almost a half century of listening, HARD, they are little solos.........not complete compositions (if i wanted that, i would tye in a completely different style), but solos over-the-top of a certain set of changes. Not only musical chord changes, but all the changes that your experiencing at any given point in "time."
Every change you've ever made, or still need to make.....that is all time, really is.
Read Einstein.....if you can handle that..........you'll understand.

[willowhead]

Vicki.....just for the sake of being absolutely clear........and because i know you "know" how i'm all bout DE DIFF! .....in this case.....i my case.....there is no difference between, "by heart" & "to memory." ......................you dig?

[letumgo]

Mark - To me, the fly on the left brings to mind Native Americans. Simply beautiful, and my favorite of the pair.

Your comment about duck hunters has distracted me. Are you able to get full skins from the hunters?

[tie2fish]

My immediate reaction to Mark's most recent photo post was "... wait 'til they're far enough away that you don't ruin the meat!" Just like a pair of woodcock getting up in an alder thicket .