This portfolio of my watercolor paintings is dedicated to the decoy carvers of the past who produced some of the finest examples of true American Folk Art.

The Wildfowl Decoy is the only true example of American Folk Art native to our shores. Quilts, hooked rugs, carved trade signs, weather vanes, carousel figures and ship carvings all stem from European roots. The origins of the Wildfowl Decoy are deeply embedded in the history of the American landscape.

The decoy is a Native American creation. Early white explorers reported a variety of Native American devices used to lure Wildfowl from the skies. American Indians roughly simulated resting flocks of birds by shaping mud or piling stones in shallow water. They mounted dead bird heads or bodies on sticks on shore and floated waterfowl skins stuffed with dried grass in deeper water.

The oldest Indian-made decoys were discovered in an archaeological dig at the Lovelock Cave in Nevada in 1924, buried in baskets in the dry earth of the cavern floor. These decoys have been estimated, through carbon dating, to be at least 1,000 years old. They now reside in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. White settlers later adapted these types of Indian decoys. By their standards, the Indian lures were impractical because they weren't made to last. Our ancestors applied European woodworking traditions to the Wildfowl lure to make the wooden decoys depicted in this watercolor antique decoy series.

Decoys were made in two basic forms: floaters and stick-ups. Floating decoys were made either of a solid piece of wood or from two or more pieces hollwed out and joined with nails. In either case the head was almost invariably a separately carved piece, attached to the body with nails or a screw or wooden dowel. A weight was usually attached to the bottom of the decoy to balance it in the water. Another weight tied to a line at the decoy's breast, served as an anchor.

DECOYS were made to represent many species of swimming game birds, including all types of ducks and geese, as well as swans and gulls.

STICK-UPS, mounted on poles that were pushed into beach sand or marsh muck, were made to represent wading shorebirds, such as peeps, plovers, yellowlegs or curlews, usually found feeding at the water's edge.

The carvers of the past could barely support their families by selling decoys. Today, some of these blocks bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. (This seems to be the fate of many talented artists!) Festivals and auctions are currently held around the world based on the Wildfowl Decoy. They have truly become fine American Folk Art.