Paul Puckett

Paul Puckett grew up in Dallas, Texas, and although he is an artist, he will always be an angler first and foremost.  He often talks about his first memory of being out on the water; he was captivated by the poetry of the line, the subtleness of the flies and the action of the rod.  He did not start painting until years later, but despite the time lapse, his passion for painting quickly emerged as the other central part of his life.  By the time Paul graduated high school, it was only logical that both passions had combined to create the Art of Paul Puckett. 

 When Paul entered college at the University of North Texas, he found his niche through his idea of catch and release paintings.  Paul would recreate the fish, the fly, the hands, the fly rod and whatever else the client desired.  In a world of catch and release fishing, these ‘fish portraits’ were the best alternative to mounting the fish.  When Paul graduated from college he moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and there continued his life as an angling artist.

 Paul currently resides with his wife, Vann, in Atlanta and on Cumberland Island, Georgia.  Over the past few years his art has evolved to include more scenic pieces in watercolor and oils.  Although his paintings have spread into the world of sporting art, he will always enjoy recreating people’s trophy catches from rivers all over the world.  As Paul states, “Catch and release paintings to me are so much more than the actual fish.  They reflect the feeling that comes with catching your first rainbow on a fly rod; the rush that comes from an Alaskan salmon burning line from your reel.  When the client sees these paintings s/he remembers the weather that day, the coolness of the water, the way it felt when the fish finally sipped the fly …. A catch and release painting is a way to capture the memory, and everything extraordinary that goes along with it.” 

 The Art of Paul Puckett has been published in Sporting Classics magazine, The Drake magazine and Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.  His art has been sold at auctions throughout Georgia, Texas and Wyoming; examples include the Jackson Hole Ducks Unlimited, the Jackson Hole Trout Unlimited, the Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Dallas area Ducks Unlimited, Atlanta Redbone and the Atlanta Nature Conservancy.