// PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP
Inc ., a Miami-based apparel manufacturer . There are also additional galleries situated at SeaWorld of Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa .
BI : What are your current responsibilities ? GH : My most important role is to create new art . I work in five different media including ink , watercolor , oil and acrylic paint as well as in photography . Mixed media is another popular style .
Over the last three decades , I ’ ve attended many consumer shows – boat shows , fishing and wildlife art shows – as well as marine industry trade shows and apparel shows in my role as founder and creator of the brand .
I ’ m a member of the prestigious Society of Animal Artists ( SAA ) and the Canadian-based Artists For Conservation ( AFC ). Both have an international membership of the best wildlife artists ; each hosts annual travel exhibitions in North America .
I ’ ve authored four books : Portraits from the Deep ; Panama Paradise ; Underwater World ; and 10,000 Chicken Sandwiches . I ’ ve also illustrated two books , Santiago ’ s Finest Hour ( The Old Man and the Sea , Hemingway ) and Fishes of the Open Ocean by Julian Pepperell .
BI : How many different art designs featuring marine species have you created ? GH : Perhaps 3000 works in my professional life , in different media , but my favorites are the big
What a Guy ! Diving alongside a black marlin in Panama .
canvas paintings . The big pelagic fish and marine mammals I like to interact with and paint are large animals and deserve a big canvas .
BI : Any favorite personal fishing memories ? GH : Catching and releasing big fish , two blue marlin each over 1100 lbs . in one day , July 27 , 1997 , off Madeira , Portugal . Tagging and releasing a 1200 lbs . black marlin in Panama on January
Marine education and teaching kids is one of Guy ’ s greatest passions .
25 , 2005 with friends who caught the great fish . I keep a log of all the billfish catches by our family .
BI : What inspires you ? GH : While I enjoy painting very much , the other side of painting is sharing the experience , the knowledge gained through being self-taught , with other people , but particularly young people . During every appearance I make , whether at a Bass Pro Shop , SeaWorld , Busch Gardens , Dick ’ s , Macy ’ s , Academy Sports or Beall ’ s store , the kids want to share their art with me or even give me their art inspired by what I have painted . The art appeals to a wide , mainstream audience .
BI : What have been the biggest challenges you ’ ve faced in your career ? GH : Licensing art is tricky . The composition of the art is one thing , very time consuming but I love it . The ‘ loneliness of a long-distance runner ’ comes to mind . I do all my own artwork . I ’ m self-taught but have taken good advice from my closest friend in this genre , Kent Ullberg , America ’ s most famous artist and wildlife sculptor .
The tough side of the business is that you must defend your intellectual property . Copyright registration and hiring prickly lawyers to defend your IP is the best money you ’ ll ever spend in starting up your own visual arts business . By fiercely defending your IP , you set precedence ; potential poachers soon learn not to plagiarize your art .
In terms of setbacks , there have been a few .
28 august 2023 www . boatingindustry . com