FISHING FOR LAKE TROUT references The Lady of Shalott (1842), a lyrical ballad by English poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was inspired by the 13th century short prose text Donna di Scalotta, which was based on the Arthurian legend Elaine of Astolat (late 5th to early 6th centuries); The Lady of Shalott (1888), an oil painting by English painter, John William Waterhouse; Anne of Green Gables (1908), a novel by Canadian writer, Lucy Maud Montgomery; and Canadian-American actress, Megan Follows, in Anne of Green Gables (1985), a television miniseries by Kevin Sullivan, where the scene in which Anne claims to be “fishing for lake trout” subverts the traditional story of the lily maid’s unrequited love when lovesick Gilbert Blythe rescues Anne Shirley from her sinking dory.
I have wanted to paint this portrait since I was a little girl in the 1980s when I was obsessed with the world of Anne of Green Gables, art and literature.