Jeffrey Klinefelter’s persistence and talent finally paid off when it came to the annual North Carolina duck stamp competition. Klinefelter’s painting of a northern shoveler was unveiled as the winner of the 2013 competition during the opening reception for the 18th annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships in February. “My reaction was unbelieveable. I couldn’t believe it when she called me and told me I had won,” Etna Green’s Klinefelter said about being told he won the competition. “I was kind of flabbergasted that I had won the contest after entering so many times. It’s just amazing to me to be able to win.” Klinefelter said winning the North Carolina competition isn’t easy because it brings in some of the best waterfowl artwork in the nation. “I can’t say. Judges have their own personal preferences. I don’t know,” he said when he was asked why he thought his entry won. The painting, which is a mixed media of opaque watercolor and acrylic, will become the image on what is commonly referred to as the North Carolina duck stamp. Signed and numbered regular edition prints with mint stamps of the winning portrait will be available from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s N.C. Wild Store July 1 for $145. The stamp is $10. Proceeds from sales of the print and stamp support the Wildlife Resources Commission’s Waterfowl Fund, which generates revenue for the conservation of waterfowl habitat in North Carolina. This is the first year that Klinefelter has won North Carolina’s waterfowl conservation stamp and print competition. He has won awards in other states, including Ohio, California, Colorado, Delaware, Oregon, South Carolina, Indiana, Nevada and Louisiana, where he placed first in 2012 with his painting of American wigeon at a marsh edge. Klinefelter was one of 30 wildlife artists from 16 states to submit entries for the sixth annual N.C. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp and Print Competition. In 2008, the Commission began partnering with the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild, which sponsors the winter wildlife festival, to conduct a nationwide competition open to the public. This year, artists could submit paintings of hooded mergansers, Atlantic brant, Northern shovelers, tundra swans or gadwall. Klinefelter’s blue-ribbon finish kept Richard Clifton, Milford, Del., from winning the competition for the third year in a row. Clifton finished second this year. Tom Crain, Branson, Mo., took third place. Raleigh’s J.P. Edwards claimed fourth place, with Jennifer Miller, Olean, N.Y., taking fifth place. Klinefelter is a graduate of Herron Art School, Indianapolis. He is a member of Indiana Wildlife Artists. For more information, visit www.ncwildlife.org/
