Fairest fowls

HONK if you like this painting.

Wildlife artist Sherrie Russell Meline from Mount Shasta, Calif., beat out 233 other entries to win this year’s Federal Duck Stamp Contest with her acrylic-on-paper rendering of a Ross’ goose, above. She’s the second woman to win the competition -- known among wildlife artists as the Super Bowl of waterfowl painting -- in its 25-year history.

Russell Meline has entered the contest a dozen times without winning, but she isn’t inclined to grouse about the past.

“It’s a big deal to us duck artists,” she says when reached by phone from her gallery, Wingbeat. “It’s the duck artist’s pie in the sky, and you just shoot for it.”

Second place went to Bruce Miller of Mound, Minn., who painted northern shovelers, shown on the left; and third place went to Jim Caturia of Cottage Grove, Minn., who also depicted a shoveler, right.

Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, as they are officially called, look like postage stamps but serve as hunting licenses. Waterfowl hunters are required to purchase and carry the $15 stamp.

For her model, Russell Meline used an injured goose that was in rehab at a friend’s aviary and worked from snapshots of the bird to “get attitude.” “The face of a waterfowl says everything,” she says. “I want to get to the heart of the bird. If that doesn’t come out, I toss the painting. I have a lot of scrap paintings.”

Artists were asked to portray either an Atlantic brant, northern shoveler, Ross’ goose, ruddy duck or Canada goose. Proceeds from the stamp go to a conservation fund, which purchases wetlands for the National Wildlife Refuge System. A valid duck stamp can be used for free admission to any refuge that’s open to the public.

But for Russell Meline, there’s no cash prize. It’s just something to crow about. “You do the work and hope it flies,” she says.

-- Janet Cromley