Commissioned Artwork Can Be Much More

Commissioned artwork has the potential to evolve into much more than the original itself. Such is the case for a magazine feature on desert quail. Last Fall, on a drive from Tennessee to Oklahoma, I finished the last of 10 pieces for the Winter 2025 issue of Quail Forever. Upon arrival, our friends’ six-year-old daughter (and delightful hunting companion) asked if she could see what I had been working on. I brought the Gambel’s quail portrait in from the truck, and Elliott’s parents immediately asked if the original was for sale. But the Smiths didn’t want just this piece. They commissioned me to do an entire series of similar portraits featuring all the quail species found in America. On Thanksgiving day, in between hunting for coveys of Bobwhite, I finished the last of the six quail in the camper cabover “studio.” I had saved my favorite until last – the Bobwhite. Months later, a collection of six individual originals hangs in the Smith’s Oklahoma home. Overwhelming demand for Giclee prints of the quail portraits ensued, and complete sets have been shipped to fellow quail enthusiasts all over the country, including a donated set which raised more than $3,000 at the Park Cities Quail Coalition banquet.

But the story doesn’t end there. My husband and I scheduled a custom boot fitting with CEO Luke Kolbie of Russell Moccasin at their flagship store, Avontuur in Homewood, Alabama. As I paid for a lovely, handcrafted pewter Bobwhite quail pin, I spotted a beautiful collection of letterpress notecards, printed by Ancesserie in Edgefield, South Carolina. Fascinated to learn of their history, I pursued a partnership at once. Lydia and her team transformed my original Bobwhite quail artwork into an elegant letterpress design. The handcrafted notes feature “Early Gold” ink on 100% cotton pearl white flat cards using 19th century newspaper plates from her six-generation family newspaper. Thrilled when the upscale notes arrived, I sold out in two days and doubled my next order.

Credit to Carlee’s Crafty Creations and author Harris Strickland, who contributed to the quail package recently gifted to the Smiths as an expression of appreciation for propelling my work. It includes “The Kingdom of Quail” and a hand-crocheted Gambel’s for the little girl who started it all with a Gambel’s portrait. Quail have the tendency to lead us on some amazing journeys, and this has certainly been one of them.