While most of us are thinking about this coming waterfowl season, others have been thinking about the 2011-2012 season.
Among them, James Hautman, an artist from Chaska, Minn., who today was named the winner of the 2010 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, an annual competition hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Hautman’s acrylic painting of a pair of white-fronted geese, seen above, will be made into the 2011-2012 Federal Duck Stamp, which goes on sale in late June. The stamp sells for $15 and raises about $25 million each year for wetlands conservation.
This is the fourth time Hautman’s work as appeared on the stamp. His work also made it on stamps for the 1989, 1994 and 1998 seasons.
The fish and wildlife service says there were 235 entries in this year’s two-day competition, with 11 making it to the final round of judging. Jame’s brother Robert, of Delano, Minn., placed second with a painting of a white-fronted goose. Robert has won the competition twice.
Kip Richmond of Apex, N.C., took third place with a painting of a pair of brant.
You can see photos of the second- and third-place winners here and here.
