Mike Stidham combines his passions for art and fishing in riveting scenes that invite the viewer to share in the outdoor experience. Stidham’s paintings are instantly recognizable for their quality of light, movement and color beneath the waters surface. He uses the effuse radiance of oils to reveal the beauty and integrity of the fish themselves. “The artist is at his best when he focuses on interpreting an animal rather than merely duplicating it.” He points out, “This requires a knowledge of anatomy, because the fish should be rendered both accurately and convincingly. Even more important is that the piece is painted beautifully and that the composition hangs together and has a painterly feeling.” Mike has been sketching since his youth and often does oil sketches in the outdoors, which provides inspiration for his larger studio works. He paints plein air watercolors to document the anatomy, coloring and special characteristics of fish. He was commissioned to paint a series of unique and different rainbow trout in watercolors from the same Montana creek. As an accomplished etcher, he has produced more than 70 editions of hand-colored etchings of both fish and waterfowl. He has designed stamps for the Gulf Coast Conservation Association, Texas Saltwater Gamefish stamp and Texas Quail stamp. An expert fly fisherman, Mike has spent several years in the Yellowstone country of Montana fishing and painting. He is a current I.G.F.A. fly rod world record holder. Mike has illustrated several books and magazine articles. His work has raised thousands of dollars for conservation organizations including Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Gulf Coast Conservation Association and others. Mike strives to give the sense of “being there” outdoors in a classic angling scene where the fish and waterfowl are alive occupying a vast space and the outcome is undetermined and waiting to happen. “A fish confidently taking a fly makes a wonderful painting, but a classy refusal is just as much fun, both in real life and in art. Sporting art always seems to have a narrative quality about it, even when it is something as simple as a still life.” The artist lives with his wife, Kathy, and their four children in Salt Lake City, surrounded by the high Wasatch to the east and the Great Salt Lake to the west with miles of trout streams, where the artist can often be found, leaden with canvases and fly rods, searching for good fishing and the perfect painting. Trout provide the Stidham’s with financial and spiritual sustenance. “Obviously, every artist paints from a given point of view, but I decided that to convey the beauty of the underwater realm, I needed to present my own impression rather than reproducing what the camera sees. It’s this interpretive approach that makes a painting interesting.”