Neighborhood artist wins federal “duck stamp” contest for second time

The new federal duck stamp featuring a painting by Richmond District artist Robert Steiner

We learned last week that a neighborhood artist won a high honor – having his wildlife painting featured on a U.S. stamp.

Richmond District resident Bob Steiner won the coveted 2012 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, which meant that beginning July 1, 2013, his painting of a goldeneye duck is reproduced on 2.1 million stamps, and the original 7×10 inch portrait was worth $185,000.

Steiner, who paints from his 1-bedroom-sized studio in the Inner Richmond, is one of only three living waterfowl artists to win the contest twice. During the span of his career, he’s won a total of 83 duck stamp competitions – more than any artist living or dead.

You might think Steiner’s home overlooks Mountain Lake or one of the bodies of water in Golden Gate Park where he can spy on ducks for his work, but no such luck. He relies on photographs that he takes at an exclusive duck club near Sacramento, favoring January for his visits when hunting season has ended and the ducks know it’s safe to return.

His 2012 award-winning painting was created from a composite of some of his favorite goldeneyes:

His painting of the goldeneye for the federal contest is a composite of five or six photographs of ducks, taking the best feature from each one to form what he calls “a Franken-Steiner duck.” Out of the sunlight, the head of the real bird is black. Its bright green head in the painting is a trick of iridescence, like a rainbow. (SF Chronicle)

All told, Steiner put 600 hours of work into the painting. “I still was working on the beak at the last second,” he told the Chronicle. “I would have painted for a few more days if I’d had it, but the deadline comes and you have to send it in.”

You may have noticed the $15 on the duck stamp pictured above. That’s because unlike regular postage stamps, duck stamps aren’t used for mailing. They’re “revenue stamps” that are a required purchase for every duck hunter that buys a license. The stamp is also sold to stamp-collecting nonhunters as a season pass to national wildlife refuges.

Steiner does not receive any prize money for winning the duck stamp contest or from sales of the stamp (but he does get a pane of stamps signed by the secretary of the Interior), but he will make money off marketing his prints, primarily from his website steinerprints.com. He has four staff members that handle marketing and sales.

What’s next for Steiner? Trying to make history by winning the contest six times (the record is five wins by a single artist).

Thanks to his wife “Boots” for sending in the news.

Sarah B.

SFChronicle: ‘Franken-Steiner duck’ wins artist 2nd stamp contest
NYTimes: Rising to Glory on the Wings of Ducks: The Federal Duck Stamp Contest Rewards Artists