Smallmouth Yellowfish Replica

R 2,950.00

Each replica is cast from my original clay yellowfish sculpture:
- Limited to 40 signed and numbered
- Individually hand painted and varnished
- Durable - Impact resistant resin cast
- Wooden display stand included
- Total length of 36cm

The inspiration behind the yellowfish sculpture came from a recent trip to the Orange River. It was a stretch of wilderness devoid of any civilization, from what I could see, just rugged sun burnt cliffs and hills juxtaposed against the lush green river banks. Apart from the river, there didn't seem to be too much wildlife activity, not that you'd expect there to be with temperatures averaging about 43 degrees. The fishing, on the other hand, revealed a river teaming with life and the yellowfish were so abundant and large that we didn't have to struggle to find them. Choosing to flyfish exclusively, these fish proved to be quite a handful on our light tackle, but were a lot of fun though, keeping us busy most of the day. All the yellowfish were in perfect condition, feeding on quite large prey like dragon fly larva, crabs, big caddis fly larva etc. At the end of the trip, and armed with thousands of reference photos, I couldn't resist and decided to do a sculpture, to form the preparation for a painting that I will be staring very soon.
In making these little replicas, the whole process started with a clay sculpture that was carefully carved to be anatomically correct, with special attention to all the finer details like, scales, protruding mouth and fin spines. The barbels were quite finicky to carve and mold and so these were left out initially and added in after each mold was cast. The eyes were also given their fair treatment of finesse and were caved hollow to allow for a clear lens to be individually created with clear resin. Although each of the 40 fish are replicas of the original sculpture, each fish is lovingly hand painted, signed and numbered with equal levels of detail and creative flair given, making every piece one of a kind!