Carolina Sportsman

Limited Edition Print
Edition of 950 S/N
Image: 24.5″ x 18.5″
Overall 30″ x 23″
$100

75 Artist Proofs available with original watercolor remarques.
$250

This painting was an attempt to encompass all of the things that sportsmen might do outdoors in North Carolina. Like all of my major sporting still life paintings, this one was carefully researched to get the right “stuff” in it. I wanted it to look like a wall in an outdoorsman’s den or special room, the place where the wives rarely go.

I started the set-up of props with some of my favorite things. The “cabinet” is actually an old shipping crate that I have used before and painted a different color. The old decoy is a classic Ruddy duck by Ned Burgess of Churches Island. The old shell boxes, powder flask, creel and lures are from my own overflowing studio shelves. Some of the books in the painting were written by friends of mine, others are books that simply had to be included in the painting, like THE OLD MAN AND THE BOY by Wilmington’s own Robert Ruark. That book is probably in every southern sportsman’s library and is truly one of my personal favorites.

WATER DOG, by my friend the late Dick Wolters is probably the most widely used and respected book on dog training on the market. Charlie Dickey’s BOBWHITE QUAIL HUNTING is also a classic. I included archery, trap shooting and a North Carolina Lifetime Sportsman’s License. Anyone who knows my work will understand the inclusion of the Ducks Unlimited decal.

I love North Carolina; especially the outdoors. We are truly blessed because we really have it all. “Carolina Sportsman” is an attempt to put it all down as a reminder. I’m willing to bet that something in this print will bring you a memory or two of days in the woods, the marsh or on the water. This is probably the most successful sporting print that I have done and one of my two or three favorite paintings.