don’t realize the undercarriage of these boats when they’re in the water. Secondly you don’t realize how little room is in these boats. Because of the way the hull is shaped. They’re meant to go to the bathroom, take a nap and fish . . . with tiny little transoms for get-ting big fish in the rear door. They’re fishing machines. The Carolina flare became synonymous with ‘go fast.’ Function first, then design,” Irwin says. “I’m not an expert, I’m simply a visual observer.” Spooning up a taste of North Carolina game fishing history Irwin references the Big Rock, a rocky bottom near the Continental Shelf uncovered in the 1940s. Little George Bedsworth was the first to fish the rock, says Neal Conoley, famed decoy collector, boat book author, erstwhile painter and president of the North Carolina Aquarium Society. “I think George was the one who named it the Big Rock,” Conoley adds. Fishing the Big Rock used to be a two-day affair until the first marlin of record, a mere 143-pounder, was caught in 1957. “That sort of brought on the big designs,” Irwin says. Fishing the Big Rock requires passage through Morehead City Inlet. “If you’ve never been in and out of it, it’s a trip,” Irwin says. “There’s a wave that comes off of Fort Macon, you have a 30- to 40-foot roller, two or three of them, especially when the tide is either going out or coming in. I think that’s the beauty of the cold mold design, fiberglass cannot take that kind of punishment, number one; and number two, fiberglass is a lot heavier than cold mold, cold mold being a wood frame with glass on top of it.” In “Busting Through III,” a sportsfish planes above the inlet, casting its shadow on the surface of the water beneath it, throwing spray from the boat’s transom to the right edges of the canvas. The aerial view was shot from a helicopter. This painting, like many others, was rendered from color transparencies inside Irwin’s 1990-built studio. Blending pencil, watercolor, oil paint and oil crayon, Irwin’s palette is saturated in pigment. “In my later years, I learned to take oil pastel and lay down an area and go back and wash it out,” he says. The idiomatic feathering draws the viewer within an inch of the surface. “It was a progression if you will. The combination of all of it used to interest me when I had dexterity,” he says. Irwin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about 17 years ago. He continued to paint for several more years. An assemblage of his work will hang during a one-man retrospective at Carteret Contemporary in July. “I’m not bitter about anything. I had a great run. I enjoyed it while I had it. I miss it,” Irwin says of drawing and painting. “At some point you just can’t go back, you’re not going to be able to replicate what could you do ten years ago.” Sensation I, 31 x 49 inches, oil on board. 59 www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2015
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