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Brook Trout Rising

Three of his paintings hang in my house. Two are scenes of the Desert Southwest and one is of the San Juan Mountains. They are all ethereal, beautiful and mesmerizing. Kind of like their creator – Stan Englehart.

Stan passed away last week at age 78 in Durango, Colo.

A bit of a sense of the man can be found in a description of him found in the foreword of the book, Stanton Englehart: A Life on Canvas. The foreword includes the following descriptions of the man:

…compassionate, inspirational, visionary, gifted, generous, vibrant, joyful, humble, learned, passionate, always in touch with the magic and beauty of nature; a person of insightful intelligence and absolute integrity, informed intuition and disciplined commitment to his work-play; and most simply, always a great hugger and good listener, a gentle soul, a gentleman to the core.

Happily, not one of the words above is an exaggeration. (For more on his life, the Durango Herald published this nice piece about his life.)

I am thankful and fortunate to have known Stan. My parents were good friends of the family, and I have always treasured the time I was able to spend with him, limited as it was.

One afternoon at his house and studio, Stan and I started talking about fly fishing, a shared passion between us. We traded a few stories as I looked over his rods and gear, which were kept in the studio along with his art supplies.

A bit later, I tried to pick out a painting to purchase in the upstairs portion of the studio. Lots of paintings were lined up against the walls. When he told me that this set of paintings was headed for an upcoming show, I wondered why I was considering them. He noticed my confusion and quickly added, “Pick whatever you like. I have plenty.”

I set about this difficult task. Pick just one? How?

Back down by the fishing rods a while later, Stan came up to me with a gorgeous painting of luminescent, almost glowing green mountains. In the foreground, a pastoral body of water spread across the canvas, dotted with trout rings. “I want you to have this,” he said.

It will always be one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. As I listened to him tell me about creating the painting (always my favorite part of the process), he eventually decided to title it, “Brook Trout Rising.” It has proudly hung in my kitchen since.

I and many, many others are sorry to hear of his passing.  But thankfully, his spirit will live on through his work, which hangs in many houses and buildings around the country and world. I know this to be true in my home.

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