Two MAHI MAHI watercolors sent to auction

These two brand new mahi mahi watercolor paintings were auctioned off at the West Palm Beach Fishing Club annual BBQ and awards banquet in south Florida. The BBQ is a huge event with awards given out for outstanding fishing throughout the year. Why did I choose them? They put great emphasis on traditions and are active advocates of initiatives that promote habitat protection and sustainable fishing. They give educational seminars and scholarships to kids, and since 2001 have donated more than 2,000 fishing rod/reel outfits to kids just to keep kids excited about protecting the marine environment so we can continue to experience the fishing that we all love!

Each of these ink and watercolor paintings are one-of-a-kind, 9x12 illustrations of one of my favorite fish to catch and um ... not release. Good thing they are some of the fastest growing fish in the ocean. Your only chance at these two is to attend the event this weekend!

Click here to learn more about the event.

© 2018 Kelly Reark, Mahi Food Fight. Watercolor and ink on 9x12 cold-pressed cotton paper.© 2018 Kelly Reark, The Three A-Mahi-Goes. Watercolor and ink on 9x12 cold-pressed cotton paper.

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Conservation & Remembering that One Great Catch, with Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

Local Artist Kelly Reark on Conservation and Remembering That One Great Catch Click through Kelly Reark’s online gallery and you will find yourself in a South Florida ocean scene: canvas, silk, and fish mounts show bright renditions of turtles, flats fishermen, sea horses, and—of course—bonefish, tarpon, and permit. Kelly’s Florida roots go back several generations. As a child, she developed an interest in the local wildlife while hunting and fishing with her family. She attended the University of Miami and upon graduating in 2002, moved to Boca Grande where her father ran a tarpon fishing charter. Eight years later, Kelly started her career as a professional artist. She began experimenting with different media and color combinations, even adding her “trademark” style to three-dimensional fish mounts. Someone asked Kelly to paint a mount and, saying, “I’ll paint on anything!” she watched a rush of similar orders come in. The mounts have “this nostalgic quality to them, but they’re sti…

Ladies Day Tarpon Tournament

What Ladies Day Tarpon Tournament means ...For more than a decade, my mom and I fished the Ladies Day Tarpon Tournamenttogether in Boca Grande Pass aboard my dad's boat - the SALTY CRACKER. Mom and I love fishing, and it is something many mother-daughter teams share in this particular tournament.

Ladies Day has traditionally been fished on Mother's Day weekend because it is the one weekend during tarpon season when captains would reserve a tide and take their spouses and daughters out on the water to have a family day instead of taking a charter. In the beginning we were all just out there together, taunting and fishing and waiving to the other women in the Pass. Through the hard work of some very special ladies, the first official tournament was fished in 1990.

Forward, 27 years later, there is as much camaraderie and competition as ever. There are great prizes and shenanigans too. It's the one big tournament where female anglers flood Boca Grande Pass to raise the mighty …

Bahamas Royalty

© 2017 Kelly Reark, Bahamas RoyaltyPermit. Acrylic on fiberglass fish mount (34" Permit)
The idea for Bahamas Royalty came through looking at photos of my last trip to Marsh Harbour. A queen triggerfish, queen conch, queen angelfish, silver king ... so many royally beautiful fish from our daily dive!
Having a marine biology background, I enjoy the research involved in preparing a work. I look at the entire ecology of the main subject: the habitat, lighting, supportive species, food source and biology.

Days of sketching later, I settle on my idea and got to work with the paint. My process is to sketch multiple views of each creature or landmark. Then I use transparent paper to make an outline and work out the best placement on the fish mount. Many of my sketches and images are saved for another project because my ideas are usually too many for one fish mount.

The next step is to antique the areas that I want to give that "old paper" look and to paint the sepia features. I st…

Artist Kelly Reark

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