Artist Katrina Case-Soper

“I started fishing when I was just a girl living on a dairy farm in Northern Wisconsin.  I also did my first painting when I was 7 years old on that same farm.  My grandfather taught me the basics of fishing and showed me how to tie a few flies.  I walked miles and miles of creek bank as a kid and learned to be tough when grandpa had to yank a hook out of my hand, arm or cheek.

From Wisconsin I moved to Central Michigan as a teenager, going on to pursue oil painting in college.  I didn’t fish much until I met a special someone who was obsessed with fly fishing.  I was able to spend time again, with a fly rod in hand, fishing with him for several seasons.  He went off to war and the last time when he was home, on leave, he was hit by a car on his motorcycle.  My time of fly fishing died with him.

I still fished now and then from a boat and walked the rivers some as well, but never with a fly rod. As I got older yet, I started having to deal with hip issues that resulted in three different surgeries.  Fishing just didn’t happen anymore.

Then a good friend of mine approached me with a project, ‘can you design a fly tattoo for me?’  At first I wanted to just say no and not have to deal with it, I had never painted anything like that before and wasn’t sure I wanted to take on the challenge.  In the end I said yes and rediscovered my love for the fly.  I have been painting watercolor flies ever since, I have become obsessed with the intricate beauty.”