The fish art and natural science fish illustrations by Escape Studio artist Nick Mayer--naturalist, biologist, fly-fisherman, fish artist—go beyond typical paintings of natural science study to the art of capturing a specific fish. They are portraits of fish—particular fish. The art begins with the accurate scale placement and fin ray counts expected in a scientific illustration, incorporates the colors carefully blended to be lifelike by a naturalist painter, and then becomes a portrait by an artist with the trace of a small scar, a slight drop in the tail, or a split in a fin.

Nick Mayer’s passion for flyfishing, fly-tying, fish art, and scientific illustration painting began very early in life. As a three-year-old boy in Michigan, he fished the Big Two-Hearted River with his Dad. From there a passion for fishing developed that eventually took him to scientific fisheries positions with Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Oregon State University, and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. His interest in fish studies continued to evolve in subsequent years, eventually leading him to create Escape Studio in Lincoln, Vermont, where Nick Mayer currently works as a naturalist and a scientific illustrator/ artist. His works have been shown in exhibitions nation-wide.

Recently, Nick Mayer has been creating naturalist paintings/ scientific illustration art sculptures of moths at Escape Studio. The same blend of natural science illustration, precision, and artistic passion is evident in these small, three-dimensional life-size works of art. A new series of his “Faux Moths” art depicting endangered species of moths and butterflies is in the works.