Rosy-Fingered Dawn

Fly Fishing By David D. Pearce

This watercolor is a product of my forays to Rangeley, Maine with my brother (who has a camp there) and his friends. I called this painting Rosy-Fingered Dawn because, as a former Classics student and U.S. ambassador to Greece, the early morning colors brought to mind the stock epithet (ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς /rhododáktulos Ēṓs/rosy-fingered Dawn) that Homer used in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. My fishing companions are all far and away more accomplished anglers than I, but they are also good-humored and patient, so I get to enjoy the zen of standing in the river and casting, however ineptly. Very occasionally, I actually do catch (and release) a fish. I wish I had had the sense to take up fly fishing earlier, like my brothers. But I’m trying to make up for lost time with a few drawings, sketches and watercolor paintings that record my impressions.