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At the age of three, Ohio native and Houma resident Patrick Whetsell delivered his first piece of artwork to his mother – a rough sketch of a fish that he now considers his first real adventure into the creative world.
By 18, Whetsell had packed his bags and left his hometown of Akron, “as many people from Ohio do,” setting out to chase life. He drew caricatures on South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach, made stops all along the Eastern Seaboard and throughout the Midwest, dabbled in the world of mural art and eventually landed at Savannah College of Art and Design to explore his natural born talents a bit further.
In the early 2000s, the road called again. This time the destination was Bayou Country.
“Family is what brought me here,” Whetsell said of the move. “My daughter’s mom is from this area and she wanted to move close to where she grew up, so we uprooted and came this way.”
Despite having lived in many different areas, Whetsell admitted the move was hard on him, to say the least.
“This is the most different state I’ve ever lived in. It took me awhile to warm up to,” he said. “It was so foreign to what I’ve always been used to even though I’ve been in so many different states. It’s like 49 of the states are pretty similar and then you have Louisiana.”
But before long, the Big Easy and the beauty of the state’s coast drew him in. The beauty of both realms brought him back to his artist roots and he began painting again for the first time in years.
“New Orleans captivated me,” Whetsell explained of the moment things began to click. “Everything about it is just so appealing to the eye, especially from an art standpoint. I’m a huge architecture and scenery enthusiast and I don’t know if you can go to a place that has more of it than that.”
He dabbled a bit with images of streetcars and the people unique to the city, but soon he found himself on a boat, bobbing in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by those animals he once doodled as a little boy. Introduced to the sport of blue water fishing by friend, Paul Hebert, Whetsell was immediately hooked, absorbing every detail of the elements and the catch.
“I didn’t pick up a paintbrush again until about a year and a half ago,” Whetsell, who goes by the Irish version of Patrick, Padraig, in the art world, said. “I was completely burnt out. It was a good six or seven years that I just didn’t paint. Fishing was the direct source to get me back into it. I fell in love quick with it. More than that, I fell in love with the fish.”
Whetsell’s collection of paintings now primarily includes various species of the finned creatures, intricately replicated through neon strokes that give the images
a realistic, shimmering effect. In the mix, you’ll find poignant portraits of John Mayer, Ghandi and Gov. Bobby Jindal, all painted on solid-colored backgrounds, a stark, eye-catching contrast to the intricate details of the painting’s subject.
His work recently caught the attention of those in charge of the Fourchon Oilman’s Fishing Invitational, held earlier this month, who invited him to create the first poster for the long-running summertime tournament. The imagery features the artist’s signature fish surrounded by the boats and scenery one would typically see on an offshore fishing trip.
“That was phenomenal,” Whetsell, who fishes the tournament yearly, said. “It’s not something I usually do, I’ve only done a few posters. The board got together and decided that they wanted me to do the very first poster and I was honored. I thought nobody was going to want them signed. On Saturday, I think I signed 1,000 posters. It was really humbling.”
In addition to expanding his art collection, Whetsell is also set to launch Catchgear, a fishing apparel line featuring his artwork emblazoned on shirts, visors and catch buckets ideal for stocking on the boat. He’s also in the works to establish a non-profit organization that encourages local fisherman to share their bounties with those in need.
“I had a bunch of childhood mates from Ohio down recently to fish,” he said. “We just killed it; we caught every species that was open at the time … We’re all sitting around and they’re getting ready to fly out the next day and someone says, ‘Well, what do we do with the fish now?’ I didn’t really think about that. One of my friends says, ‘How about we donate it?’ I said, ‘I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never thought of that.’ We catch fish all the time, so we have tons of fish. So that’s what we did.
“We found a mission in New Orleans and we brought that fish that day to them. It fed 200 people. It couldn’t have made us feel better. That spawned this idea … There are plenty of people that need food in their life and it’s the healthiest thing they can put in their body.”
Whetsell said this newest venture takes his art just one step further and is excited to see how it all unfolds.
“We’re still in the baby steps of it, but it’s to encourage fishermen to share some of their bounties,” Whetsell explained. “If that one ice chest that we brought fed 200 people, imagine what a couple bags here and there can do.”
Local artist Patrick Whetsell incorporates his love for blue water fishing into many of his uniquely vibrant art pieces. His talents were recently lent to the first poster for the Fourchon Oilman’s Fishing Invitational, which was held July 9-11 at Moran’s Marina.
