“TWILIGHT’S LAST RISE” was inspired by the evening’s I have been fortunate enough to spend chasing Tarpon, partnered with  my favorite time of day, twilight, and the surreal sunsets that mother nature offers us every night. I figured it was a combination of events that must be combined for a painting. With these idea’s in my head, I dug into my memory bank for some archived images to help set the stage for the piece.
So I thought back to the night’s as a kid when I was introduced by my father and a family friend to tarpon fishing under the seven mile bridge in the Florida Keys. We always used live bait at the surface, which meant when the fish came, it was action like you never could imagin! Nothing like having your eye fixed on a 16 inch mullet swimming around for hours then all of a sudden he breaks the water flying through the air with a 100 pound fish on his tail! For a kid from Michigan who wasn’t use to seeing anything larger then a smallmouth bass break the water, the first time this happened I was lucky to have clean drawers and not to have fallen overboard! For those of you who have never hooked a tarpon, it can be an awesome spectacle. They can put on an acrobatic show that makes a Sean Johnson Olympic routine look like child’s play. Sometimes it’s not the acrobatics of the fish that are most exciting, it’s the sheer chaos that takes place within the boat trying to get everything in order to chase the silver king! This push-pull relationship that now takes place can last over an hour but with luck on your side, a landed fish is a story that will go on the top five of most angler’s all time highs! I could go on for pages about the amazing stories that the king has brought to me, so at this, I hope you enjoy my vision of the last rise of the night.