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In December of 2018 I decided to enter the duck stamp contest for my home state of Washington. The Washington Waterfowl Association was conducting the contest and had chosen to do a stamp with a chocolate Labrador retriever and ring-necked ducks. Since this combination of ducks and dogs is one of my favorite types of paintings to do I decided to submit my portfolio and hope for the best. On Christmas eve I received a phone call from Mike Bell of their duck stamp committee informing me that I had been chosen to be their "Artist of the Year" and create their next duck stamp!

At the time of his call I was not at home but out collecting reference photos for another painting I had in mind. I could scarcely contain myself as I raced home to inform my husband. He was busy at his computer and knew I had been out searching for a particular bird and had just casually asked if I had found it. I ran down the stairs and said, "I have something to tell you!" Absorbed in his work he said, "just a minute until I finish this" and I excitedly said "No, I have something to tell you right now!!" Thinking something was wrong he gave me his full attention and I blurted out, "I just won the Washington duck stamp contest!!" Needless to say he was absolutely thrilled and I was so excited to be able to tell him in person. When I won my first contest for Delaware he was at work and a phone call had to do. In person was so much better and it was the best Christmas present for both of us.

As soon as the holidays were over I had much work to do. Prior to my entering the contest I had been collecting reference photos just in case I was chosen and also because I thought I might try to enter the Delaware contest again as it was their last year for a dog and duck combination on their stamp and chocolate lab was the next dog. I had previously contacted some good friends of mine who have a sweet lab named Lily and set up some time for a photo shoot with her so I was ready with the dog. I had also been photographing ring-necked ducks that were here locally over the winter, but I needed additional photos of them as I had decided that I wanted flying birds in the painting and I had no reference photos for that. I spent many days chasing the ducks around hoping that I could get the photos I wanted and after many hours in the field and lots of patience I finally was rewarded with the poses I was after. Now the real work started!

In February I had my concept drawing approved by the committee and started working on the actual painting. I had set a personal goal for myself to have the piece finished by the end of March even though it was not due until May. I didn't want to be painting right up to the deadline should any issues arise during the painting process. As with many paintings of this size and complexity often times changes have to be made. Not every painting goes smoothly and sometimes an idea that looks good in the drawing phase needs adjustment in the painting phase so I wanted to give myself plenty of time for this.

After weeks of work using lots of tiny brushes and lots of tiny strokes in the dogs fur and on the ducks I was beginning to put the background in when things started looking a little busy and chaotic in the painting. The foreground grasses really started to bother me so after having the dog complete (or so I thought) I decided to paint the grasses out, which meant going back into the dog and creating more fur. I am painting with acrylic so making changes wasn't too terribly difficult, but it did take some time and careful strokes and blending to make it all work together. I also decided at this point to leave out any additional ducks in the sky but placed a few in the water. In the end I believe it made for a cleaner design.

The painting is now at the printers and over the next few months the stamps and prints will be produced. We are hoping for a release date of mid-June. Anyone interested in purchasing these can go to Washington Waterfowl Associations website at http://www.wwa.shuttlepod.org/