Detlef Buettner
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Detlef Buettner, a native of
Hamburg, Germany, caught his first fish on the Elbe River when he was 12-years-old and has been
fishing ever since. The idea to paint life-size watercolors of fish began in 1977, when at age 18,
he took a fishing trip to Finland. While traveling, he decided to begin drawing fish, using a cruder
style than he now uses. "I had the basic idea of tracing the fish but the fish didn't have the
detail. The fish was drawn in pencil from memory and little notes", he says.
Buettner was encouraged in his early
artistic attempts by having two of his works, a Northern Pike and a Yellow Perch,
published in a
German fishing magazine. The drawings were accompanied by an article the artist wrote about how to
draw fish and how committing them to paper can increase people's appreciation of their catch.
Detlef moved to Alaska in 1982. "One of
the reasons I came was the fishing and the beauty of the land." He studied at the University
of Alaska Southeast, graduating with a degree in Fisheries. He also took watercolor classes, and
beginning with a Steelhead he caught in Peterson Creek, revived his interest in painting life-size
fish, now in watercolor. He has completed numerous paintings of fish native to Alaska and Northern
Europe. His first limited edition print was published in 1987. That edition of
"Coho
Salmon" is now sold out. In addition to prints, Detlef's fish are also available on
art cards.
Detlef currently works for the Alaska State
Department of Fish & Game and lives in Auke Bay with his wife, Jacqueline, and his son, Kaelen. |
LLC