Pick a color, any color

Local artist specializes in elaborate, hand-painted lures.

When Rick Brouwer finishes an art project, sometimes he tosses it into the lake.

Each custom-painted fishing lure he creates is a functional work of hand-crafted art. They’re beautiful to look at, but do their work under water, wobbling and wiggling to entice hard strikes from hungry fish.

Lures aren’t his only specialty. Brouwer draws and paints wildlife scenes and portraits. He makes full-size costumes for stage productions. The outfits run the gamut from Disney characters to animals.

The well-rounded artist from Pea Ridge is also a well-rounded angler. Creating custom-painted lures, including crank baits, jerk baits and swim baits, is dear to his heart.

Brouwer, 52, caught the art bug early.

“I’ve been drawing for close to 45 years,” he said. “I just picked it up one day and started doing it.”

His enthusiasm hasn’t waned.

“Five years ago, I challenged myself to do 50 drawings in a year,” he said. “I ended

up doing 65.”

That’s about the same time he had some beat up lures gathering dust around the house. Their finishes were cracked and chipped from years of catching fish and bumping around in tackle boxes.

He picked one up and started painting.

“That first one was a square-billed crank bait. It was beat up bad,” Brouwer

recalled. When finished it resembled a threadfin shad, the main forage for black bass and all game fish in Ozarks lakes.

“I went out by myself and caught five bass in an hour at Beaver,” he said. “The next fish broke it off.”

Sad to lose that lucky lure, he went home and painted more. Now, hundreds of lures later, his works of fishing art are popular with casual anglers, but serious tournament bass fishermen are his main customers.

He wrapped up an order last month for one angler who ordered 85 of Brouwer’s lures. They’re available locally at Hook, Line and Sinker fishing store in Rogers. Cost is $10.99 per lure.

Some people think Brouwer has some big operation going, like a factory, to turn

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff) Local artist Rick Brouwer does all his lure work at a work bench in the corner of his garage. “Some people think I have some big operation going here,” he said.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff) Brouwer’s talent for art is seen on paper and on custom fishing lures he paints by hand. His customers include professional bass fishermen and weekend anglers.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff) Brouwer starts painting a crawdad pattern on a crank bait.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff) Custom-painted lures are packaged and ready for customers.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff) Swim baits (above) and crank baits, all custom painted, are turned out by Brouwer’s hands.