First trout of the new year!

[p_ham]

Overall I'm happy with it. Overall the fish is about 20" long. It is hand formed 20ga cold rolled steel. Details were chased in by hand, using the repousse technique. It is on a piece of cottonwood I found on the Truckee River that a beaver had its way with.
Unfortunately my camera phone is not great and it messes with the color a bit.






Feel free to critique, I am always open to improvement.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Any kind of negative critique of your work would be tantamount to telling mtgomer to hunt harder.

It’s beautiful. The gloss finish makes it look like an actual wet fish. Cool choice of wood too. How do you apply the color? Airbrush?

 

[JohnCushman]

Superb!

 

[Bluejeep]

I would gladly hang that in my house. Great job!

 

[Chesapeake]

I'll provide feedback, but I want you to know its not in any way intended to be negative, or even specific to your work. Hopefully my comments are helpful to you.

Not sure if you are going for a Rainbow, Red side, Golden, ect... but I've not seen any of those have random spots on their tails or fins. The spots always seem to be organized in rows following the ray bones(?), often ending in stripes or elongated spots.
Also, its probably due to the choice in materials, but it jumps out at me when the wrist of the tail section is thick and bluntly tapers to a thin tail. That blunt taper and thin tail is always the part that jumps out at me on metal art fish. It catches my eye that the entire sculpture seems to mimic the volume of a fish, and then there is this complete lack of volume or tapering off of volume in the tail.

 

[p_ham]

Any kind of negative critique of your work would be tantamount to telling mtgomer to hunt harder.

It’s beautiful. The gloss finish makes it look like an actual wet fish. Cool choice of wood too. How do you apply the color? Airbrush?

Thank you, most of the color is airbrushed candy, the spots are painted by hand. I have airbrushed them in the past but was not happy with their soft edges. The gloss is simply automotive 2 part clear coat.

I'll provide feedback, but I want you to know its not in any way intended to be negative, or even specific to your work. Hopefully my comments are helpful to you.

Not sure if you are going for a Rainbow, Red side, Golden, ect... but I've not seen any of those have random spots on their tails or fins. The spots always seem to be organized in rows following the ray bones(?), often ending in stripes or elongated spots.
Also, its probably due to the choice in materials, but it jumps out at me when the wrist of the tail section is thick and bluntly tapers to a thin tail. That blunt taper and thin tail is always the part that jumps out at me on metal art fish. It catches my eye that the entire sculpture seems to mimic the volume of a fish, and then there is this complete lack of volume or tapering off of volume in the tail.

Thank you for your input. I have tried lining the spots up on the rays but I couldn't get it right. If I start doing reproduction work I will definitely have to work on that.
On the tail, are you referring to the leading edges or the whole tail that need volume? (I agree with that point but haven't figured out how to keep it clean.) I suppose I could start with thicker stock for the fins and tail and simply carve them out.

 

[Chesapeake]

You nail the square-ish finish of the wrist section of the tail. I like that.
The taper from wrist into the tail would be gradual and the top and bottom rays of the tail start thicker and taper toward the ends.
Not sure how you’d achieve that effect. Maybe form the tail by smashing a funnel flat but leaving the edges rounded rather than creased flat. If that makes any since at all.
Or weld some gradually tapered rod to the top and bottom of the tail prior to fitting it into the wrist of the body and then shaping it.
I’m guessing it’s difficult cause I’m not sure I’ve seen it in metal.

 

[Elkhunter24]

nice job!