Ep 89: Trout and the Creative Process, with Colton Wright
Colton Wright is a personal trainer by day and an artist by night. As an angler, most of his work centers around trout in various styles, including everything from watercolor to sculpture. In this episode, we talk about his love of getting into the backcountry for high country cutthroats, how he gets inspiration for his pieces, and how different art mediums lend themselves to capturing trout.
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Katie
You're listening to the Fish Untamed Podcast, your home for fly fishing the backcountry. This is episode 89 with Colton Wright on trout and the creative process. all right well thanks for coming on I love to just get a background on all my guests when we start so I'd love to hear how you got into fishing and I also saw that you grew up doing some hunting in Colorado. So I'd like to talk about that as well, if you're open for it.
Colton
Okay. Yeah. My dad was like a super outdoorsman. And so he taught my brother and I that when we were growing up doing a lot of fishing and hunting, mostly big game hunting like elk and deer, but we did a little small game here and there also. Mostly rifle hunting, but I did a little bow hunting as well.
Katie
And how about fishing? Was that kind of the same thing? You just kind of grew up doing it?
Colton
Yeah, it was more of just like a summer thing, and I grew up fishing using like a spinner rod, like spinner reel, with usually just throwing lures, but I tied on a fly in a bubble a lot. I filled up a bubble halfway full of water, and then I would do like a dry fly rig on that, and I liked that a lot. So for a long time, I always wanted to get involved with fly fishing, And it wasn't until like a few years ago that I got a fly rod and reel and started doing fly fishing.
Katie
So how did you transition from using a spin rod to fly fishing? Did you like take lessons somewhere or was it YouTube or a friend? Like how did you how did you learn?
Colton
I kind of knew how to do it already just from, I guess, seeing other people do it and things like YouTube. But I had a buddy show me how to do like indicator fishing. The first time I went for wet fly fishing, he showed me how to do the roll cast and things like that.
Katie
So did it kind of click for you right away where you decided that you were done with a spin rod, or do you still pick up a spin rod now and then?
Colton
I only have once since then. I don't know why that is. It's not like I have anything against it or anything like that. I don't think that fly fishing is like a superior elitist sport compared to that. But I just, I guess I like the challenge of it more. And I feel like there's more options to how you could set up your rig depending on what you want to do. And I think that's fun.
Katie
So is trout your primary target or do you fly fish for all kinds of stuff?
Colton
Pretty much just trout, actually. Yeah, I don't think I've got anything else on a fly rod.
Katie
Oh, really? Now, where are you located in Colorado?
Colton
I live along the front range, just west of Denver
Katie
Okay, you might live very close to me, then I'm in Lakewood
Colton
Okay, yeah, I'm right around that area
Katie
Cool, so tell me more about hunting, too Just because I talked to someone the past couple weeks about this I do a lot of fishing through the spring and summer But my fall has kind of morphed into mostly hunting at this point So I actually transition out of a fishing mindset and into a hunting mindset and I'm still doing these podcasts about fishing, so I end up talking about it a lot. But my brain is very much focused on hunting in the fall. So are you still hunting these days? And if so, have you been getting out recently?
Colton
I would love to. I haven't been. My dad passed away, and I just haven't gone hunting in a while. But I feel like maybe next fall I'll be up for it when I get back out there for some deer or elk.
Katie
Would you be going out with a bow or sticking to a rifle still?
Colton
Probably rifle because I know I'm really rusty with my archery skills and I haven't picked up a bow in a while. And you've got to be pretty confident with that, I think, in order to know you can make a good ethical shot at some pretty fair distances to even attempt that.
Katie
Did you find any correlation, I feel like particularly with bow hunting, and obviously you have some experience with that, even if you're not planning on going out again soon. I feel like I've heard a lot of people make connections between specifically bow hunting and fly fishing. And, you know, there's obviously overlap between hunting and fishing in general, but those two things in particular, I feel like I've heard a lot of people say that they kind of fill the same part of their life. Have you experienced that at all? Like making a connection between bow hunting specifically and fly fishing specifically?
Colton
Yeah, that's why I think sight fishing is like my favorite type of fishing. I like to see a fish and then go after it because I feel like I'm hunting that fish instead of just casting out there and wanting that indicator to drop and not being able to see anything other than the indicator, you know. So I feel like bow hunting and fly fishing are more like kind of old school things, like more tied into the primal hunter-gatherer in us than, you know, if you could shoot an elk at 800 yards, that's really impressive and good for you if you could do that. But I think being able to go take one with a bow is much more of a challenge. I feel like anybody could throw lures and just reel those through something. And if a fish hits it, it's on. But yeah, I think fly fishing is a little more technical. And I like that aspect to it.
Katie
Yeah, there's definitely something to be said about the long range shooting that a lot of people are doing these days. It is very much a skill. I can't shoot something at 800 yards. So I max out, you know, around 250. But I would any day rather get closer. You know, I'd like to be able to be as close as I can to an animal. And I kind of agree with you about sight fishing. Like it's always more fun when you can have a target and sneak into it. Like if you see a fish feeding and you creep up and put your fly right where it needs to be instead of, you know, hucking something out and, you know, eventually you feel a tug. But, you know, you didn't feel like a connection with that fish before you got that bite. So I can totally see what you're saying there.
Colton
Yeah, I think that the anticipation of like you see it, you come up with a plan, and it's so much more exciting to see your plan coming into place, and especially like on a dry and you see the fish like rising up to it, it's like, oh, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes. And then when you do set the hook and you feel that tug back on the other end, it's like such a great feeling. instead of just being surprised when you get a take, which is still fun for sure. But yeah, not quite as fun.
Katie
I think there's also something, you know, you mentioned having a plan and when it comes together, that feels really satisfying. At the same time, you know, if you make a plan and it doesn't work, but you can see the fish, you can often kind of assess your plan. You know, maybe the fish comes up and looks at your fly, but turns away at the last second or something like that, where you can, you can see what happened and you can readjust. Whereas if you go in blind, Like say you're just casting to a big river that's, you know, murky. You don't see any of the fish. You're not really sure what it is that you're doing that's wrong. You know, I don't know if I should be, you know, swinging a streamer instead or I need to lift my flies up a little bit off the bottom. Like you're not really sure. You're not getting any feedback on what you're doing.
Colton
Yeah. I'd rather be just moving fish all day and not catching any than just not even knowing if there's fish in there.
Katie
Right.
Colton
And be surprised and catch one or something.
Katie
So if you like sight fishing, what kinds of places around here do you tend to fish? Are you going up into the small creeks in the mountains or alpine lakes? I'm picturing those as kind of the two places that I often are able to sight fish. But where do you find yourself fishing most often?
Colton
I love the summer alpine fishing. Going up in the high country and see cutthroats along cruising the shoreline and throwing some drys to them. That's probably some of my favorite type of fishing. but I do rivers and streams and stuff too.
Katie
Now, do you like those alpine lakes for the fishing itself? Because I saw that you're a personal trainer, so I'd love to kind of get into that as well, but is kind of the physical aspect of getting up there appealing to you as well? Because that's something that draws me to those faraway areas. I like kind of working hard to get there. It feels good.
Colton
Yeah, I think the harder you have to work, the less pressure those fish are probably going to get. Not as many people are willing to go through some brutal hike just to catch some fish. But that's part of it. Yeah, I figure, well, if I am going to climb maybe a couple thousand feet, I might as well just make it a workout and just get like a couple hours of cardio or something and power my way up there instead of taking my time. And I think the mental outlook of like, if I'm positive about having to do that, it's so much more enjoyable than thinking like, oh, this hike sucks. I got to do this just to get up to these fish, you know.
Katie
Yeah, you can have two different mindsets about it. I've also heard people who hike who are like, I just, you know, I want something to do when I get there. Because I like hiking just for the sake of hiking. And I like fishing. But it's really nice to be able to kind of combine both because I feel like sometimes just going for a hike, I get to the end and I'm like, well, now what? Like I'm just out here hiking. So it's nice to like have something to look forward to when you get to the top.
Colton
Yeah, for sure. To kind of get the best of both worlds, you get a nice hike, enjoy some beautiful scenery and get to catch some fish instead of just doing one or the other.
Katie
Right. So tell me about, I know we're going to get into art, but I read your little bio before we got in here. And it sounds like you're a personal trainer by day and an artist by night. Is that right?
Colton
Yeah. Yeah. My day job, I'm a master personal trainer. I travel to people's homes and train them there. And I've got two little kids at home with my wife. And we're pretty busy until the kids go down and we get caught up on chores and stuff. So it's usually not until pretty late at night do I get to do things like art and personal time. So that's usually when I get art done is around midnight.
Katie
So what is involved in being a master personal trainer? Is that like a specific certification that you have?
Colton
Yeah, that's one of the certifications with just like experience and education and stuff.
Katie
Okay. And then how did you get started in art then? Because I assume that's, you know, if you're doing art kind of once the kids go to bed, it sounds like it's more of a side project that you're hoping to kind of build up, but it's still kind of somewhat in its infancy in terms of you making it into a career. But it sounds like you've been doing it for a while just for fun.
Colton
Yeah, I drew a lot as a kid. Just always enjoyed all kinds of art. And I kind of put it away for a while when I was in the military. I didn't really have a way of bringing art supplies with me when I was living in some really remote places on the planet. And I definitely like way too much of a workload to even think about doing stuff like that. So I didn't do any art for a long time. And then it wasn't until maybe a few years ago I started thinking I really enjoyed that. And I should probably try painting because I had never painted before and always wanted to. and then I just started with watercolor painting and tried acrylics and now I kind of just do a variety of different kind of art forms.
Katie
So like what types of art do you do now?
Colton
Illustration, like pen and paper stuff, markers, do acrylic painting, watercolor painting, digital art that I make into, do like logos and graphic design stuff and then I make my own designs that I turn into stickers and patches and things like that. Just started doing more art prints as well. And I also do sculpture or sculpt things and then usually paint it after I sculpt it.
Katie
Now are these mostly, because I've seen some of your work online, and is it mostly fish and fishing related or do you do art across the board? I'm sure if you're doing like graphic designer logos, you kind of have to cater to what your client wants. But in your own time, just for fun. Is most of your art geared toward fishing in nature or is it all over the place?
Colton
Yeah, now that tends to be mainly what I do is trout stuff. I do other mainly North American species like big game and stuff like that. I'm going to get more into saltwater stuff when I have the time. But for now, yeah, it's mainly been trout specifically.
Katie
And what's your preferred art form? Because you mentioned all kinds of things from like watercolor to sculpting. So what's your favorite one? And is there one that lends itself more to like trout and nature than, than another?
Colton
Um, I don't know if I have a favorite. I, I kind of like it all. That's, that's hard to say. I guess just depending on the project, I, I just, I have like a million ideas in my mind all the time of like what I think would be cool to do so I have like all these things that I think would make for cool drawings and then I also have all these watercolor paintings in my mind floating around that I usually never get to and then acrylic paintings and I think like oh this this would make for a cool sculpture and I just haven't got around to doing a lot of that stuff yet but I don't think I really have a favorite I've done a lot of acrylic painting lately, but I'd love to get back into watercolor too.
Katie
And like, where do you get inspiration? I'm sure like while you're out on the water, you know, things come to you and if you're, if you're making trout, you know, you can see what a trout looks like, but is there anything in particular, especially like when you're out fishing or out in nature that, you know, really spurs new ideas for you where you're like, I really want to capture this in some way in art. Or is it like, you know, coming as an, like a non-artist, it's hard for me to understand like what the process is like, but I just, I'm kind of trying to dig into like your inspiration and how you, how you come up with ideas.
Colton
Um, kind of all the above, you know, like if I go on a hike and I'm going up to a lake, I just get things kind of pop into my mind on the way up there. And maybe I'm thinking about those cutthroats rising up to a dry fly. And then I think, oh, that, that would be a cool sculpture if I have like a cutthroat coming through the surface of the water grabbing a dry fly I could make the surface of the water out of like a clear resin and you could set that down on a table or mantle or something like a base and then you have that whatever trout coming up grabbing whatever fly you want like I made a sculpture like that of a brook trout jumping up through the surface grabbing the damselfly after a fishing trip I did years ago. Me and my dad were fishing and we were catching brookies and there was a damselfly hatch going on. And just kind of the combination of all those events, I thought that would be cool to make something like that. So I made that.
Katie
Okay. So is it often like a moment or a scene or something like that that sticks with you? And then because you're involved in so many different forms of art, you can kind of decide in which way you'd like to capture that. So in this case, you know, I'm picturing a brook trout coming up and there's ripples and things like that. And so that lends itself well to having this acrylic surface because it's kind of, it's representing that water, whereas that might be harder to capture in something like a painting. Whereas if you're just making a trout, like maybe a painting would be better because you have like more freedom with colors. Like, I don't know, I'm just kind of spitballing, But is that kind of how it goes?
Colton
Yeah, for sure. I mean, just the idea of a trout coming up and grabbing a dry fly off the surface, you can think about that a lot of different ways. Like I talked about the sculpture a minute ago, you could also think the sculptures being like face to face with it up close. And then you could also think from the perspective of standing on land, looking out at your flies like farther away and you're above the surface of the water and you could see the reflection of the sky on the uneven surface catching that blue light and that might make a cool painting or maybe you could think of the same scene under the surface kind of slightly below the fish and do like black and white drawing and just so those are like the the ideas that pop into my head and think yeah that it'd be cool. I want to do that. And then there's just like too many ideas to, I have to narrow it down to something that I'm like, okay, I'm going to do that. And it's hard to not have too many projects going on at once and just only working here and there on a bunch of different things. Of course, if I have like commissions going on, I prioritize those and get those done first and just my personal stuff here and there. But yeah, I think just having a creative mind, I think, what would be cool and then try to think about the same thing different ways and then decide a way that I'd like to tackle that.
Katie
Now, have you ever made the same, you know, quote unquote, the same scene in multiple different ways? Like, have you done a sculpture that you've also painted and almost done it in like different styles. I don't know if you've ever seen those. I've seen them online where someone will do a like a self-portrait in all these different styles. And it's really cool to see how different they are, even though they're all the same, that they're all supposed to be the same thing, but they all look so different because of how they've been approached. And like, I don't know if you've ever done something like that, where it's like, this is the same brook trout in four different styles. And they're all like a really cool take on it.
Colton
That's a cool idea. I should do that. I haven't done this, the same thing in different ways. I've done kind of similar things. Okay. That would be something I'd like to do.
Katie
And how long does, does like a typical work take? I'm sure it really varies based on, you know, what it is you're doing. I'm sure sculpting is different than watercolor, but like now that you're trying to kind of make it, make it more a part of your career to actually, you know, have, have a career in art, how, how long does it take to get a piece out? Or are you kind of like bottlenecked by how much stuff you've got coming in and what you want to do personally? Are you able to get a lot of stuff out in your like midnight sessions?
Colton
Yeah. Yeah, I can. Some nights, depending how I'm feeling, I'm willing to stay up really late knowing that I'm going to be hurting the next day, being tired. And I'll do that sometimes like when I need to. And then my wife, she's great. She's, she's really awesome. Like with the kids, if, if I, if I try to get something done during the day, then maybe she could kind of handle the kids by herself for a little bit. And I could get like an extra hour or two here and there. And that, that really helps me if I'm trying to get something done sooner. So it varies a lot depending on the piece. Like if I'm doing a big acrylic painting, that's difficult to only work on for short periods of time. Like, oh, if I have a half hour, that's not really enough time for me to get out my stuff and mix the right paint colors that I need and then do a little painting and then clean up in that half hour amount of time. I couldn't get much done in a short window like that so for a big acrylic painting I feel like I need an hour or two window dedicated to make much progress on something like that but drawing like pencil or pen drawing and colored pencils and things like that are nice because it's none of that's wet you you could just pick up a pencil do a little bit and then set it down if you need to and it's not like a time sensitive. I have to work with this and it's, I don't have to plan something out like I do with painting, whether it's watercolor or acrylic. There's a lot, very different techniques that you have to kind of plan the whole thing out in stages and know what the, what the next step's going to be. But some mediums, you could just kind of do them all, with less planning and little bits of time bust out a drawing in a half hour?
Katie
I know you said kind of logistically painting requires more time just because you've got to get things set up and you've got to get all your paints ready and things like that. Do you require any sort of time just to get in the zone? Because I'm in school right now and I find that if I've only got like 20 minutes, I can't sit down and work on something because I know it's going to take me 20 minutes just to sit down, get settled, get in the zone, and by the time I'm like ready to work, I'm going to be out of time. So even if I have less than 20 minutes worth of work to do on it, I need more time than that. Like, do you have the same thing with art where you kind of need a certain window to sit down and like get in the zone? Or are you able to pick up a pencil and be like, I've got 10 minutes. I'm going to add a little bit to this drawing I started.
Colton
Yeah, I know what you mean about getting into the zone. With art though, I'm always in the zone. Like I'm always wanting to draw something or, you know, if I have a painting in mind, maybe I could bust out the thumbnail sketch and then turn that into the final drawing before I transfer that to the canvas or something, you know. So I feel like I'm always ready to go with art. I never really have to get in the zone. And I've never had an artist block. Like I hear about some artists who are like, I want to make art, but I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm always, I want to like paint a bull elk or I want to draw a brown trout or something. There's always something I want to do.
Katie
I wonder if that's related to the fact that you're drawing or you're painting things that you are like already out doing. You know, like if you're out fishing and you're like, that's a really beautiful brown trout and suddenly you're inspired to make this. Whereas, I don't know, I could picture an artist if they don't have, if they're not, if their art isn't centered around something that they are participating in, that they have a passion for, that there could be that block there where they're like, I don't know what to do now. Cause they're, they're trying to think of something out of the blue, like come up with an idea versus, you know, seeing something and being like, boom, that's it.
Colton
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm definitely in love with the beauty of nature and just trying to capture God's creation in a way that would never do it justice, But to try to get that similar feeling, like if you have a pretty fish in the net and you're like, wow, this is like a gem. And you let it go and you'll probably never see it again. But if you could recreate that and get the same sort of feeling like, oh, that's a really pretty rainbow trout on a painting or something. It kind of brings those memories back of when you're outside and you're having fun doing what you like to do.
Katie
Now, so Martin was the one who introduced me to you. And I was talking to him about this kind of kind of the same process. And he had expressed that when he's making these glass trout, that he's not making a specific fish. He's making almost the essence of a fish. So he's not taking, he's going to look at a photo for inspiration, but he's not putting like all the spots exactly where they were on any specific fish. Do you tend to do kind of the same thing where where you were inspired by a fish you've caught maybe and you take some pictures so you can kind of reference, you know, proportions and things like that. but at the end of the day, you're making more of an abstract idea of a brook trout or a brown trout? Or do you often paint an exact fish? And you're saying, I painted this fish that I caught on September 12th of 2021. How exact do you get when you make a fish?
Colton
I do both. I just completed a watercolor painting that I just put prints up. And that's an exact fish that I caught and took a bunch of pictures of before releasing it. And combined different reference photos, you're making a drawing and stuff. It may not be like the exact spot for spot, but that particular fish is one that I caught that's really accurate to how the fish looked. But yeah, I think most of the time I just draw a fish and I try to get the essence of, like you said, like what Martin was talking about, a brown trout has different size spots and different patterning than, say, like a rainbow trout. So even if something is in black and white, you should be able to tell what species it is, hopefully from the markings and not because it's so exact like a particular one.
Katie
Do you have any particular fish that have stood out to you, not for their necessarily beauty or just the actual artistic rendering of them, but that you've made because the experience around it was super special? Where maybe it wasn't like a giant fish or a super pretty fish, but maybe you were with people you liked or were in a really beautiful place and just something like you wanted to capture that memory more so than the fish. Have you incorporated a lot of that into your work?
Colton
sort of yeah I'm working on a painting of a cutthroat now which is a cutthroat that I caught that was just like a spectacular looking super colorful you know not the biggest but it was like the colors were unreal and I try to capture that sort of like a like a reproduction you know not taxidermy but try to make like a reproduction of that fish because it's like it deserved that more than just pictures, you know, art, art is something that I think just has a different feel than a photo.
Katie
I am very envious of you being able to, you know, make beautiful renditions of fish because, you know, I take pictures of fish and I use those to look back and remember, you know, cool, cool trips I've taken and cool fish I've caught. But I think it would be really neat to have, you know, versions of that that are, that are created artistically on the wall, you know, instead of having a photo of the fish have, because I feel like a painting captures not only the memory itself, but it also captures some sort of, you know, humanness in it, you know, by necessity of being created by a person. There's like, there's more feeling in it than just taking a picture of like a lifeless photo of something.
Colton
For sure. There's, there's a different feel looking at it as something digital than something physical that somebody made.
Katie
Yeah. Now you mentioned digital there. And I know with some of the logos and stuff you've done, you mentioned graphic design. How does digital art differ from, I don't know what you call non-digital art. Is there a word for non-digital art?
Colton
I don't know. Maybe just physical.
Katie
Physical, okay.
Colton
Physical art.
Katie
So how does that differ? If you're doing digital art, I assume that there's software and stuff that you use to create it. But how does that differ? And I'm sure growing up when you got started in an art, you probably weren't doing as much of that. So how have you kind of grown into this kind of new medium that hasn't been around for thousands of years like physical art has?
Colton
Yeah, it is a little different. I have an iPad and I draw on there using an Apple pencil. And it feels kind of similar to if you had a dull pencil on paper. There's different heads you could buy for the pencils that have different feeling, but I've never used those. I've just used this like the standard Apple pencil. And then there's different brushes depending on the program you're using where as you draw the tip of the pencil across the screen it could leave a mark that just looks just like a like a ballpoint pen on paper. You could switch that to a different brush to where the same type of line that you're drawing looks like a charcoal pencil or a stroke of acrylic paint across the canvas. It puts in these textures for you, and it does have kind of a different, like a learning curve when it comes to knowing all the effects. Like if I draw a mark with my Apple Pencil, I can't just turn the pencil around and erase it. There's no eraser. So you have to get used to not having an actual eraser, but you have to select the, click the eraser button, and then erase whatever, you know, or you could like tap with two fingers on your screen and it undoes the last brushstroke. And there's a lot of undoing in digital work, which is cool because you could just undo. But when you see those time-lapse videos of people drawing something, and it just looks like, man, that thing just fell into place. Like every line was just drawn at the right curve and you see this this thing go from like a blank canvas to fully rendered drawing those time last videos don't include the undos so you're not seeing what's very likely that artist probably drew that same line 20 times and only on the 20th time got the line that they wanted so they like drew a line undo try it again undo nope that's not it so there's a lot of that with digital work but that's cool though because like on a painting if you mess up you could paint over it but on digital work you could just tap undo and and try again so there's there's some pros and cons to the different mediums but that's one thing I could think of that's definitely different is learning the the software and thinking about it like like a like a computer thing where you have to learn what all these different buttons do to know how to get the effect that you want.
Katie
This might be kind of a dumb question coming from someone who does not have an art background, but when you're talking about using the eraser, so I also use an iPad with a pencil, so I'm at least familiar with how it works, but because I'm not creating art on it, when I'm erasing something, it's usually like I am writing down lecture notes and I have to erase what I wrote because my writing was sloppy, so I want it to all go away. But I'm picturing if I were doing real art with a, well, not real art, that's not the way to say it, but physical art with an actual pencil and eraser that sometimes you'd make a line and you wouldn't want to, you know, fully erase something. You want to like almost like dab your eraser down and get a little bit of something out of there. Whereas the way I've experienced like an Apple Pencil, if you're on a race, it is completely wiping out everything under the pencil. So it's almost like a bit heavy handed. Is there like a touch that's lost when you go to something that's digital where it's either, you know, it's it's there or it's not once you've erased it. Whereas with a real eraser, you can kind of get really sensitive with it and maybe just lighten something a little bit or, you know, just tweak a line a little bit without having to fully erase it and everything, you know, within your radius of the eraser. Does that make sense?
Colton
Yeah. Yeah. I think there's that commitment level with physical art. Like if I'm drawing a felt tip marker on a piece of paper, there's no undo on that. And you can't paint over it like you can with paint it's like whatever line you draw is permanent and it's on there whether it's good or bad and there's a drawing of a bighorn sheep I'm working on now I'm just about done with and I've messed up a bunch on it but no one knows that but me like I didn't get the exact line that I wanted but it looks okay and and I'm okay with leaving it like that but if if that was digital maybe I would have undid that mark and tried again and that's something that I work on with digital art is to just be okay with what I think is good and not try to make something like perfect to what I have in my mind to get that exact angle or even things like the size of a spot on a brown trout's back. If it's a little too big, it doesn't look right. So you could redo that. But there are cool effects with digital art where similar to what you were talking about with lightly taking an eraser over a pencil, you can change the opacity of your brushstrokes and the eraser. So if you don't want to completely annihilate that line and everything with it, you could either just lighten the opacity and it's like lightly doing an eraser. Or what I usually do is I work in several multiple layers of art. So if I'm working on a digital piece, it's not all on one layer. Because yeah, if I did want to erase something, it would erase like all the different colors that I've put together. Maybe I did some blending. And if I erase that, I'd have to try to blend back in, be super hard. But if I'm working in multiple layers, one on top of the other, I could just affect the layer that I want to edit without messing up the other ones. And some of the digital pieces that I've worked on have around 100 layers, believe it or not. And you wouldn't think looking at it, some of my more pop art, similar or simplistic design pieces, I might only have nine or 10 different colors. And it looks like that just came together and kind of looks like it was a painting all on one layer, but there's like a hundred different layers there.
Katie
So would a layer be something like the outline of the fish, the color of the back of the fish, the spots of the fish, the eye, or what would be the different layers?
Colton
Yeah, just like that. The background could be one layer if you have a solid color. Or maybe the background could be several different layers because you blended different colors together. And the reason why multiple layers are beneficial is, say, I want to go back and change the color of the pink on a rainbow trout's gill plate because it's a little too dark and I want to make it a lighter pink. There'd be no way of doing that if it was all on one layer without affecting all the other layers too. Unless I just like airbrushed over it or something. But if I have the pink coloration of the gill plate on its own layer, then I could go back to just that layer and maybe lighten it or add some purple to it or something without affecting the other layers.
Katie
Gotcha.
Colton
I don't think I work as efficiently as a lot of people when it comes to digital work. And maybe those 100 layers could have only been 10 layers, but I'm kind of indecisive when I'm working on something and I'll duplicate a layer and think, it's like a fork in the road. It's like, well, if I do this and make the spots a little smaller, it's going to really affect how the outcome looks. So I'll save that layer that I had before so that I could erase what I've done since then and then go back to it if I want to have the spots be a little bigger than they were after making that change. I don't know if that makes sense.
Katie
Yeah, it does. And like with you mentioning that you're not sure if this is really the right way to do it, I feel like this, you know, I don't know if there's a right way for anyone to do art. I mean, I don't think it would be your art if you tried to steer away from what you naturally felt like you needed to do. So if that's what feels right to you, even if it feels like maybe not the most efficient way to do it, you know, if that's what you feel the art should be, And I feel like that you can't tell someone like with the right or wrong way to make art.
Colton
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I just feel indecisive when it comes to like every decision as I'm making something. I'm like, as I'm doing it, I'm like, I don't know if this is going to work out, you know. And then I keep working on something and I have a hard time deciding when I should stop. Like when to call it finished. I have a tendency to want to keep adding detail to stuff and it's challenging for me to stay simple. So I deliberately went simplistic with some digital designs lately that I turned into stickers and stuff. They're just like a way more simple thing. So that was kind of a project for me just to want to work on more simple stuff instead of more detailed stuff. And it turned out cool. So I'm happy with that.
Katie
Now, how do you decide when a more complicated piece is finished? When you're, maybe it's a giant acrylic and it's like a big scene with all kinds of fish and you're just, you know, you could keep adding things forever, you know, in theory. So like, how do you get yourself to stop? How do you know when it's done?
Colton
I guess I don't know until I know. I get to the point to where I see enough things that, like if I see something, I could definitely want to change that. Then I'll keep working on it. But if I kind of look around it and it's all flowing, it all looks right. And I can't really see anything that's like an obvious fix. And I think I'm happy with it and doing more work wouldn't really improve it. Then I'll kind of just look at it and think, yeah, I could call that done. And maybe I'll just set it aside for a few days and not even look at it at all. And then come back to it and you see it differently than if you see something frequently, you know. And then if I look at it again after not seeing it for a few days and think, yeah, that looks complete to me, then I'll just call it done there.
Katie
So one last question about art. Do you do any fly tying? Because that seems like it would be right up a creative person's alley.
Colton
I've just done a little bit. There's really simple stuff like Wooly Buggers. And it's been a long time since I have done it. I would like to. I think I would enjoy that. Like you said, that's another type of art that I think I would like doing a lot. But I just, I don't have the time, you know, when it's been, I'll just work on a painting. I'm really enjoying the art I make now. And maybe in the future, I think I definitely would get more into tying.
Katie
What's interesting about fly tying as an art is that there are kind of recipes, which I feel like is not necessarily the case for a lot of art. Like we just talked about how you know when you're done with something. So obviously a piece can be done, but there's not a recipe. Like you, it's kind of a judgment call when something's done. Whereas tying a fly, you're kind of following a list of steps and you might tweak something here or there, but at the end of the day, you know, you go through all the steps and when the fly is done, it's done. And then you finish it and you started another one. And that's kind of unique, I feel like in the world of creativity, where for the most part, there is nothing telling you that you're done until you decide that. So it's kind of a, I don't know if there's any other things you can think of that you've done in the art world that are similar to that, where it's creative, but at the same time, it's almost formulaic.
Colton
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's a good way of looking at that. It's like a recipe, follow the steps, do this, and then do this, and then do this, and then it's completed. But yeah, like you said, with something like a drawing, you could just keep going with it. And it is hard to decide for me when I should just stop on it and call it done.
Katie
Well, just to wrap up, do you have any trips coming up? I don't know how your year kind of shapes out like for me I'm kind of I'm kind of wrapping up on fishing for the year but do you have any fishing trips coming up or do you switch gears in the winter to something else?
Colton
oh I'm going fishing with a buddy next week but I don't I don't have like any trip set I don't do much fishing through like late fall through winter my hands get super cold easily and I can't tie very well when my fingers don't move and they're numb and hurting but I think I think next year around this time I'd definitely be thinking about big game hunting and yeah maybe switching gears but but this year no I I have a like a brain surgery coming up and so I'm kind of preparing for that this year and try to get out a few more times before then but yeah otherwise I'm probably just looking forward to spring and catching the runoff
Katie
yeah I think if you're into the bigger river fishing around here, you can fish all year pretty easily. But as someone who tends to lean more toward the alpine lakes and the small mountain streams, you kind of are forced out of it in late fall. There's not much left for you unless you're willing to go to the bigger rivers, which can be fun. But then you're fighting the crowds that are there in the summer. In the winter, there's not as many people fishing, but there's fewer places for the people who do want to fish to go. So I feel like the crowds still kind of stay there through the winter. It's not going to be as busy, but you're still going to be seeing a lot of cars in the parking lot if you go to the handful of access points that are still open.
Colton
Yeah, I like going to harder to get to places and just seeing less people. It's like an escape for me. But sometimes it's nice to just be able to drive up to a spot and fish right there.
Katie
For sure. Sometimes you just need that, the ease.
Colton
Yeah.
Katie
Well, where can people find you if they want to check out your art? Or I don't know if you have a place where they can purchase things or make requests. But like where are the best places for people to find you?
Colton
I have an Instagram at Creeks to Peaks. I have a Facebook too, but I'm just kind of barely starting to post on that. But I think Instagram is probably the best way to see a lot of my art. And I have an Etsy shop, which is the name of the shop is Creeks to Peaks LLC. And you just type that as one word. So there's no spacing between Creeks to Peaks. And someone can send me a message on there if they have any questions for me. Or I have an email, which is creeks2peaksllc at gmail.com.
Katie
Great. Well, I hope people check you out. I've been seeing your art on Instagram, and I really like your style. And I also saw the picture you sent over that you're painting for Martin, which just got me pumped up for next summer already. I know it's still a long way out, but it's getting me jazzed for that. So best of luck to you and your art endeavors and good luck on your upcoming fishing trip. And I'm sure we'll talk again soon.
Colton
Thank you. Thanks for having me on the podcast and we'll talk to you later.
Katie
All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Colton. All right, guys. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to head over to the website, fishuntamed.com for all episodes and show notes. And also please subscribe on your favorite podcasting app. That'll get my episodes delivered straight to your phone. And also, if you have not yet, please consider going over to Apple Podcasts and leaving a rating or review. That's very helpful for me, and I'd greatly appreciate it. Other than that, thank you guys again for listening, and I will be back in two weeks. Bye, everybody.
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