Taking the Plunge

Nick Mayer ambles along Main Street in Bristol, Vermont, population 3,894, on the kind of crisp fall day when the sun provides all the warmth. He looks out of place in his lobster T-shirt and white Nikes, an average Joe in a sea of flannel. He slips into a doorway and walks upstairs to a high-ceilinged hallway with creaky floors. He unlocks the first door on the right.

Sunlight floods the room, and immediately we are in the land of sharks and tuna, a saltwater fishing oasis in a landlocked state. Mayer’s meticulous paintings line the walls surrounding a plush red couch on wheels and a long wooden table with two paintings in progress, a muskie and a giant trevally. The studio has just the essentials: pencils, paper, paint, brushes, a coffee maker and a bottle of Scotch.

Mayer, who is 49, is as much a scientist as he is an artist, having been steeped in both since birth. He was born in Michigan to parents who were professors —