The Quill wildfowl art

06/06/2025

John Jones Big eastern took best bird and best turkey awards at this years Colorado taxidermy convention… very humbling considering all the talent represented.🙏🙏🙏

03/05/2025

Every detail matters… sometimes we fuss over a piece of work because something isn’t just right and can’t figure what we missed… many many times it’s the material you are working with… this is a bobcat eye that I set and just could not get myself to like it…having trust in myself I knew what the issue was… the eye itself. If the color, size, corneal shape, etc are not accurate or only “in the ball park”… the eye lids won’t lay properly, attitude and life will be missing. With some of the shortages the taxidermy industry has with eyes at times, sometime you have to take what you get…. Or make custom eyes. This is the exact same eyeset with several different eye areas photoshopped in… major differences… details matter!!

03/03/2025

03/01/2025

Details matter… client wanted rustic barnwood base… I could’ve just sent it, but the color took away from the overall composition… so I color washed the base and it immediately pulled all of it together. Even when pieces are rustic composition matters🙏🙏🙏

02/26/2025

Some just fall together… some are a fight…
This gorgeous creature had compound wing fractures and scaps missing feathers that make up the distinctive bars… chicken feather/ paint transplants and all is good!
Final grooming, finish, base work wrap up this beauty.

02/10/2025

Thought I would share this after a conversation with new client… there are limitless options for preserving memories if hunts… even if the piece has issues that would make full mounts not acceptable… Art has no limits… you saw it here first! And I can usually get two silhouettes from each piece… this works well with gameheads as well as lifesize mammals.

01/26/2025

…it always feels like somebody’s watching me….

01/26/2025

Proper field care and cold storage is so very important… this one was a fight.

This duck was brought in the studio having been frozen loose in a t shirt for a couple years… freeze dried, stiff, crispy… with a tennis ball size slipped spot on belly…. Tell the client no way right? Well it was taken with his hunting buddy that passed away and I couldn’t say no…glad I didn’t.🙏

01/19/2025

The quail project that connected the prior post❤️🙏🙏🙏

01/19/2025

It is a rare occasion that connects my life, my art, and other people at this level…
Please read on…
I was contacted for a quail scene and at drop off the customer( now dear friends) visited for a good while. I introduced them to my wife who is an amazing violinist to which the said “ our grandfather built a violin in 1936 we would love to hear it played”. We had arranged for them to bring the violin to the next visit.
Fast forward to today… they had family in and wanted to stop in, bring family… and the violin, after showing them the new studio they saw the quail scene and loved it…then…
We went to my wife’s studio where she restrung and set up the violin and started to play… as the voice held in the wooden chamber of that nearly 100 year old violin began to fill the room… they couldn’t hold back tears… what an amazing moment, one that will be cherished.
As they were leaving they said,”we are now visiting mom and will play her the video”….
The following video is the mom, hearing her dad’s violin… a moment brought together by a simple quail.
This is why I pour so much of myself into what I do… it is my life’s work, will be here beyond me… and most importantly… you never know how much impact, memories, people what you do might connect or touch.❤️🙏🙏🙏

01/17/2025

Tiny attitude!…