Ian Rutter Art

06/09/2026

I'll have a booth with my art this Saturday

05/27/2026

I've been hard at it, personalizing copies of Tight Lines and Tall Tales: Stories of Southern Appalachian Fly Fishing by Neil Norman , published by

I did the cover art and fly illustrations for chapter heads in the book. You can order your signed copy personalized with fly art of your choice on the cover page by following the link in my profile.

05/25/2026

The new book, Tight Lines & Tall Takes - Stories of Southern Appalachian Fly Fishing, is now available! Neil Norman draws upon archival research, personally collected oral history, and his own memories to recount the history of fly fishing in Southern Appalachia and the greater Smoky Mountain region.

Ian Rutter did the cover art as well as illustrations for the chapter headings.

The book is available via UNC Press by following the link in Neil's profile.

Check Ian's profile to have him draw a fly of your choice on the cover page for an upcharge.

04/20/2026

Kind of an afternoon over here.... Trying to work with ink and I was interrupted by black bears outside.

I've enjoying working with ink, whether it's sketching and drawing or using it like watercolor. Here I revisted a photo of a bull elk from last fall in the Smokies.

A sow black bear and her three yearling cubs have started showing up somewhat regularly now. So far they've been behaving themselves but today one of the cubs seemed to get a little too brave.

04/18/2026

Cool info about Smoky Mountain insects and trout food.

04/13/2026

Voting for best fly fishing guide continues. We'd appreciate your support!

We've been nominated as Top Fly Fishing Guides in the USA TODAY 10Best, but we could use your help. If you've ever fished with us, read our books, or found our videos helpful we'd appreciate your vote.

You can vote everyday through April 27 at the link below. Please vote and share!

https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/r-r-fly-fishing-townsend-tennessee/

03/30/2026

Give me a vote over in my guide life! Thanks so much in advance!

WOW! We are honored to tell you we have been nominated by USA TODAY 10Best as one of the 10 Best Fly Fishing Guides in the Country! We've included the details and image below.

R&R Fly Fishing has been nominated for Best Fly Fishing Guide, as part of USA TODAY 10BEST’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

Over the next four weeks, USA TODAY 10BEST readers will be voting on their favorites, once per day, until
ballots close on Monday, April 27th at 11:59am EDT.

The top 10 winners, as ranked by USA TODAY 10BEST readers, will be announced on Wednesday, May 6th at noon EDT.

Readers can cast their votes for R&R Fly Fishing at https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/r-r-fly-fishing-townsend-tennessee/

03/27/2026

Watercolor study of a rainbow trout. This has potential to be done again later, but I'll certainly change the way I execute the background.

03/26/2026

A few pages from my art journal. Working with both watercolor and ink this week.

I've been experimenting with not only trout but some fly fishing scenes as well. Always new scenes from the Smokies plus many from time spent Yellowstone and Patagonia I want to tackle.