Preparing for a Duck Stamp Competition! (4/4)
Author: Larry Seiler, Contributing Editor
One device that helps the birds appear to be sitting "in" the water is to place small waterdroplets that often can be seen, along the line where the body and water meet. These are basically sparkles of direct light, and easy to do...but make a big difference. Here is a pair of Greenwing Teal done with acrylics, and the close-up of the sparkles I'm referring to.
What I have described here is the same process I've undertaken to become intimately familiar with turkeys and here is one last image of one of my turkey stamp designs.
Well...that's about all for now. I guess I want to really emphasize that one needs to do their homework. You have to become part biologist AND part artist. It takes years to acquire and accumulate the working knowledge to become a professional wildlife artist.
Some artists rely upon images that photographers have worked hard to get and get published in outdoor magazines, but the reader should know there are copyright issues when such works are copied directly and then sold by the artist. Some photographers do sell many of their photos, which is another outlet for the budding wildlife artist. I hope you have enjoyed this bit of a look into the lifestyle of a wildlife artist. Many know that I have moved on to engage more into landscape paintings the last several years, but my intentions are to remain active in a number of competitions. I have won a number of such, and placed as runner-up or finalist 23 times. My sights are set on two major competitions currently, the Federal duck stamp competition which invariably leaves the artist a millionaire, and the National Arts for the Parks competition. I would enjoy hearing from anyone that likewise engages in the practice of art contests.
The process described is one I have used to understand deer, bear...and any number of wildlife. I have had some unique encounters with bears and great bull mooses, some quite life-threatening. The odd thing is, I would never wish to have those experiences again, but I don't regret having had them. Nor...do I necessarily take all the precautions that such things do not happen again. I have also been charged three times by whitetail bucks during the rut season, and many might be surprised to know that the whitetail deer is considered the most dangerous of the big game mammals, as more individuals have been gored, kicked, and killed by the deer than any other.
Larry is a contributing editor to WetCanvas! and can be reached via email at: lseiler@wetcanvas.com. He can also be found lurking in the WetCanvas! message boards. Larry's works are also available for sale at our sister site, www.art-agent.com.
After 20 years experience as a musician and winning Midwest wildlife artist, Larry Seiler, (winner of Wisconsin's 1984 Wildlife Artist of the Year, and Wisconsin's 1998 Inland Trout Stamp) finds a reinvention of himself over the last 2-3 years with a passion for landscape painting. His pursuit of the contemplative and spiritual sanity in life finds a special connection with his love of direct on location painting often referred to as "Plein Air."
Larry is represented by Art International, and his work is in a number of Midwest galleries including Grassland Gallery in the Mall of America. His background includes teaching art education for the public schools, participation in artist's workshops, travels and seminar speaking. Larry's works are primarily oils and acrylics, with the practice often of doing plein air studies to produce larger in-studio images.