Ducks Unlimited Podcast

Wildlife artist Jim Hautman joins host Katie Burke to share the story behind his remarkable seven wins in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. From growing up in an artistic Minnesota family to hunting WPA wetlands with his brothers, Jim reflects on the influence of his parents, how hunting shaped his art, and the friendly rivalry that continues to inspire the Hautman legacy.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Katie Burke
DUPodcast Collectibles Host

What is Ducks Unlimited Podcast?

Ducks Unlimited Podcast is a constant discussion of all things waterfowl; from in-depth hunting tips and tactics, to waterfowl biology, research, science, and habitat updates. The DU Podcast is the go-to resource for waterfowl hunters and conservationists. Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands conservation.

VO:

Can we do a mic check, please? Everybody, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, doctor Mike Brazier. I'm your host, Katie Burke. I'm your host, doctor Jared Hemphith.

VO:

And I'm your host, Matt Harrison.

VO:

Welcome to the Ducks Unlimited podcast, the only podcast about all things waterfowl. From hunting insights to science based discussions about ducks, geese, and issues affecting waterfowl and wetlands conservation in North America. The DU podcast, sponsored by Purina Pro Plan, the official performance dog food of Ducks Unlimited. Purina Pro Plan, always advancing. Also proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails.

VO:

Whether you're winding down with your best friend or celebrating with your favorite crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.

Katie Burke:

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Katie Burke, and today on the show, I have wildlife artist and seven time winner of the duck stamp, Jim Hautman. Welcome to the show, Jim.

Jim Hautman:

Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on. It's an honor.

Katie Burke:

It's an honor to have you on. I was listening I mean, we've actually had to reschedule a couple times because of life, but I was listening to when I interviewed your brother not that long ago, and I guess well, I guess it's been a while now. When did he when did

Jim Hautman:

I think yeah. Joe won, I think, four years ago.

Katie Burke:

So, yeah, it was right after your last win. Like, was Right.

Jim Hautman:

Yes. So he has and then when you win, you have to sit out for three years. So he wasn't in it this year, but he'll be back.

Katie Burke:

He has to win next year to tie you.

Jim Hautman:

He does. Yep.

Katie Burke:

So what order I forgot. He's older. Right? Correct?

Jim Hautman:

He yep. Joe's older, and then I'm the youngest, and then Bob's in between me and Joe as far as the boys go. We had seven kids, though.

Katie Burke:

Seven. Okay. I thought that was gonna be five, but there's seven. So there's four girls?

Jim Hautman:

Two girls, five girls.

Katie Burke:

Five boys. Yep. Are you the baby?

Jim Hautman:

I am the baby. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

It's good to be the baby. I'm also the baby. So let's kinda go back to the beginning because I don't know how many people know y'all's story and and your story in particular, but I kind of but it's interesting because you have kind of an artsy I know when I talked to Joe, y'all have kind of always had art in your life. So can you kinda go back to what it was like growing up in Minnesota and, like, having kind of an artsy an outdoor life and as well as like an art background like in your family life?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we grew up in an artistic family. My mom was a professional artist and my dad never considered himself an artist but he was very good. He and he did paintings of almost exclusively duck paintings back in the forties and fifties.

Jim Hautman:

And I was born in '64. By the time I came along, he had never painted again, but but he kinda liked to duck hunt. He liked everything about ducks and he's the one that taught us about the different species. And and I remember him saying that he collected duck stamps starting with the very first one. And I remember him saying there's a contest for that that you could enter and he said, you know, I always wanted to enter but he never got around to it.

Jim Hautman:

So it was quite the thrill for him when we started winning some of

Katie Burke:

these things. Yeah. I didn't realize, I knew that your mother was an artist and I knew that your father hunted and stuff, and I knew he collected ducks, but I didn't realize he also was, like, drew like, painted and, like, was an artist. Yeah. He And ducks specifically.

Katie Burke:

That's interesting.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. He was a big duck hunter. And then by the time I was old enough to hunt, he had quit hunting by then too, so he would he would just tell us how to do it. He would tell us where to go and what to do, and then we'd come home and report us, and he'd he'd tell us what we did wrong. And As

Katie Burke:

dads do.

Jim Hautman:

You hear that banging in the background? There's a turkey.

Katie Burke:

Oh, I don't hear it. You have a turkey?

Jim Hautman:

He's fighting with his reflection in the glass on my studio window.

Katie Burke:

I can't believe he's that fired up. It's it's October.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I know. I can't either. It's been a strange year though. I mean, it we had such a warm fall.

Katie Burke:

Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

The the lilacs started blooming, and I've hardly got any duck hunting in because it's been so warm. Yeah. But it's turning cold today, so I don't know what he's doing.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. So we've had our kind of like our first touch of fall down here. It's been really hot here too. Yeah. I hear him back there.

Katie Burke:

That's funny.

Jim Hautman:

You want me to go chase him off?

Katie Burke:

No. It's fine.

Jim Hautman:

You take him off?

Katie Burke:

It's fine. No. It's perfectly fine. Yeah. That's hilarious.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. It's been kind of warm here too. We're first finally getting it. It is what it is. Hopefully, it'll get cold for us, but probably won't get cold in time for y'all to duck hunt.

Katie Burke:

But

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I think it's coming. It's about 45 degrees and rainy and windy today, so today would would have been a good day. But I finally turned the heat on, turned the furnace on for the first time this morning.

Katie Burke:

I was late. With you being the youngest and your dad teaching you to like, well, him being the hunting one, did he teach any of your brothers to hunt?

Jim Hautman:

He did. Yeah. He took out the the older boys some, but and me being the last one, he didn't. And like I said, he would tell us what to do. And then eventually towards the end, he we got him out there a couple times.

Jim Hautman:

And we I remember we couldn't hit anything and and one time we said, alright, you gotta show us how to do it. We we had a mallard in a pond that we knew where it was. So he walked out there and the bird got up and was just flying away and he wasn't shooting. His gun was at his side and I thought, well, he's not gonna shoot. Well, Bob and I would have shot our three shots off too early and missed.

Jim Hautman:

And we thought, well, he's not gonna shoot, and then it finally got out there about 35 yards, and he pulled up and dropped the bird. And that was that was quite the lesson. I was like, alright. Be calm. Mhmm.

Jim Hautman:

Let it get to the right range and and then go.

Katie Burke:

Oh, yeah. No. We called my my sister-in-law hunts with us, and she never hunted. She just started hunting when she married my brother, and we always call her pow pow because she has a little over under 20 k shotgun, and that thing goes off so quick. Like, it's just like, pow pow.

Jim Hautman:

That's the excitement of when it's new when it's new to you.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Was like, those shots go off before she even gets her gun up. Like, they're just so quick.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah.

Katie Burke:

So it's different for me because my brother is I'm the youngest, and my brother hunted with my dad a lot, and then he got to a certain age where he wanted to go hunt it with his friends and, like, so dad lost his buddy. And as a girl, I got lucky in that because I was there and willing to go, so I got to go hunting pretty like, I got to go a lot just because he Christopher was too cool to, like, go with my dad at that point.

Jim Hautman:

Oh, that's Yeah.

Katie Burke:

But you had big brother, so I'm guessing you had plenty of people to help you out.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. It was really just so exciting. I just always wanted to hunt, know, and and I he would send us out to in Western Minnesota and it was a WPA course bought with duck stamp dollars. And he said he was very careful about trespassing and and everything and he's like, here's a place I know you can hunt.

Jim Hautman:

And so that's just where we hunted every time we went for the first three or four years. We went right on this point. He told us to go and we were still using his cork decoys that he carved back in

Katie Burke:

Oh, that's cool.

Jim Hautman:

In the thirties when he was a kid. And we'd put all the old cork decoys out and we'd say, they're not coming in. It's the decoys. He said, it's not the decoys. Of course, it wasn't the decoys.

Jim Hautman:

And we eventually went and bought a bunch of new plastic decoys and and they didn't work any better than the Corkys did. But at least we we weren't losing them and wrecking them anymore because they're kind of collector's items.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Was just saying, did you keep any of them?

Jim Hautman:

I do. Yeah. I have I have a pair of blue bills, pair of cans, pair of mallards, and a couple standing mallards, and everybody in the family has a few. You know, he I think he had 72 of them at one point. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

That's a lot. Yeah. That's a big rig of I mean, we all have we all do bigger rigs up there than we do, but did you have to repaint them at all or did he you have them all, like, original?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. We repainted them now and then. I kinda hated to do it too.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. But you were using them. So I mean True. Yeah. That's the one thing, like, because I deal a lot with with the museum and stuff.

Katie Burke:

I'm always with dealing with decoys and antique decoys, but, like, I think now with people collecting them like they do, they forget, like, these are first and foremost useful objects. These yeah. They were tools. We now consider them art, but originally, they were tools, and you're gonna get especially depending on, like, where you are in the country, you're gonna get repaint, and you're gonna get touch ups, and that's pretty natural thing to get.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. They're all shot up too, and that's that's kinda cool. They have some pellets in it.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. They have they have they've lived a life. They've seen ducks. No. I think that's cool.

Katie Burke:

I'm glad that you kept them. That's really neat. I can't believe he had 72. That's a big rig of decoys.

Jim Hautman:

I know. It's so it was and they were heavy I remember him telling a story about his dad. So my grandpa and his friend one time when they were using them, and he went back to the the vehicle and they got done and and they came back. And instead of bagging them up, they all just grabbed a handful of weights and dragged them across a plowed cornfield. He was so mad.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I mean, that's a lot of work. I mean, because I'm guessing they all had woodheads.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. They're woodheads and a wooden keel and then cork bodies and then

Katie Burke:

That's a lot of work.

Jim Hautman:

And long cords too. We we hunt some deep water up here too, so it's kind of a pain. I mean, I remember we used to have four or five that we'd have, like, 40 foot cords on for certain lakes we hunted just because that's what it took, you know, but it it makes picking up a lot slower.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. It takes a long time to get all that up. You know, I'm spoiled down here in Mississippi. We, you know, we hunt in like three feet water.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. That would be nice.

Katie Burke:

Half the time, you don't even really need to put weights on them. You can just go pick them up if they float away. It's not a big deal. Oh, that's really interesting. So what was your mom doing as an artist at that time, as a professional artist?

Jim Hautman:

You know, by the time I came around, she had, you know, seven kids, she quit the professional part of but she always painted. So we grew up with paints all over and as busy as she was, she would always find time, you know, or she would see something she wanted to paint. So she did everything from still lives to landscapes to abstracts, and then eventually, she got into doing kinda what I would call cave art. It looked like the art you would see in the paintings. France.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. Like, Laskow Cave type stuff. So she went through a lot of different phases, and, you know, I kinda learned that from her. It really doesn't matter what you paint, you know, like, you could paint make a good painting of anything, really.

Jim Hautman:

I remember one time, she and one of her painting friends set up their easels and were looking for something to paint, they painted the trash cans and the garbage in the corner, and and they were great. So I learned that, yeah, it's it's not about the subject matter. It's it's just about how you see whatever you're looking at.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That's really interesting because I I would think that's pretty different perspective from a lot of wildlife artists, like or, like, a different it's not, like and not to be disparaging, but I feel like it gets to be so realistic, like but there's a lot to learn from doing different things. Right? Like, that's all very helpful in the end because you you may learn things that you can use in something else. Right?

Katie Burke:

Like, you're learning a lot, Like, almost like doing something simple like a trash can, you learn so much about light and color because it's to make a trash can interesting, it has to you have to do something to it. Right? Like, you can't

Jim Hautman:

Well, it's interesting. You know, we're all all, at least in my field, everybody's trying to be realistic, but that's a pretty broad term. It's like, well, realistic in what way? You know? It doesn't have to be the detail.

Jim Hautman:

It doesn't even have to be the anatomy, but but everybody sees reality different too, and I think that's it's just interesting how you see. You know, I've never tried to come up with, like, a style, like a Jim Hautman style. I I kinda try not to do that. I kinda try to just put on the canvas what I see that I like.

Katie Burke:

I mean, it probably happens organically. I would assume eventually it you have a style organically, like, that you don't realize you even do.

Jim Hautman:

Exactly. I think that's that's what a style really is. I mean, if you if you try to come up with a style, I don't think that would really work. I think you just have to let it happen and, you know, you may not even be able to see it, but other people can see.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Can I can pick out your stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Katie Burke:

I can. I can pick out yours is and now I don't know if I can tell the difference between you and Joe. I can I usually can tell Bob's? He has like, there's something about his that are usually a little bit different. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

But yours in

Jim Hautman:

Well, Joe is the toughest one. I think he's the toughest one to pick out just because he's a little more experimental. You know, he'll do one thing, and then the next painting, he'll use, you know, he'll do a watercolor y thing and then he'll do something loose and then he'll do something tight and he's yeah. He's probably be the toughest to IV.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And the only thing I can tell that y'all this is where this is funny. Whenever you do anything flying, I can pick out y'all's flying birds way quicker than I can anything like sitting on the water or sitting on the PS, like, standing. And there's a diff like, you have with the way you paint feathers, there's something. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

It's and that's probably because there there's more interpretation on a flying bird, and I I like to do flying birds, especially for the duck stamp contest because I mean, I think they're harder to do Yeah. And so fewer people do them. But, you know, most photographs of flying birds look weird.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Because they're blur a lot of times they're blurry.

Jim Hautman:

They're blurrier if they're and even if they're frozen in super focus, you don't see them like that. They don't appear like that. So doing a flying bird is not you know, you can't copy a photo usually and have it look right because, you know, I've taken I think I've taken over 2,000,000 photos and, you know, it's one in a thousand that's even worth looking at. And but every time I do a flying bird, I'm always adjusting to make it look like they look not not look like just how they photograph.

Katie Burke:

Right. I would guess, like, this would be a good example where hunting would help you when it comes to, like and, like, being out in nature with them, like, versus looking at like, a lot of people look at photographs and go take photographs, but I would think having more experience seeing birds flying and coming in, that would help you a lot within, like, getting it right.

Jim Hautman:

That's exactly right. I mean, because when you're hunting and usually when I hunt, I used to always bring my camera, but I found I would always grab a shotgun when birds were coming in.

Katie Burke:

Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

And you you really can't do both, but not having the camera really helps because then then you can see how they appear, not not how they photograph, but how they really look. So I think it helps. Well, it obviously helps to have photographs, but I think it helps to spend a lot of time not photographing and hunting is is that for sure. So

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And because also, like, I would think if you if you pick up the camera right, you're looking and then you're shooting the picture, and then you're looking at the picture. So like, because you can't help I don't I don't know anyone who can't take a picture and then immediately look at the screen, like

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I agree.

Katie Burke:

Don't know if that's possible, but but you're when you're hunting because you're, you know, you're eventually going to shoot, you're watching that bird come, like, through the frame more. Right? Like, you're kind of watching its full approach. Well, know, other thing you miss, you're watching it leave. Like you're getting more of a full motion of it.

Jim Hautman:

Well, and also another big part of it is that, you know, you have to be able to ID the bird so you know if it's a species that you wanna shoot or if it's species that you can shoot. So hunting, you really learn, like, why you know, it may be dark out almost. And if it's a redhead or a can coming through, you learn the difference because you have to. You know? And and it's the way they carry their head and the shape and the wing beat and all that stuff.

Jim Hautman:

So I've people that I sometimes hunt hunt with will say, wow. You must have amazing eyes because you can tell what kind of bird that and that's it's not the eyesight. Yeah. Just Knowing what to look for. Start with the wing beat and just, you know, the way they hold their head, how long their tail is, you know, even if it's a silhouette.

Jim Hautman:

And it's funny because every year, the first time out, it's kind of hard, and then by the end of the season, you're dialed in and you can just you can just figure out what they are from, you know, quarter mile away.

Katie Burke:

No. My husband is from Massachusetts and he did not hunt before he met me.

Jim Hautman:

Oh, really?

Katie Burke:

So yeah. He he's from, like, the burbs of Boston. So he did not grow up in a hunting family, and I very much did. So I am the hunter in this in our relationship, and he's still, like, I mean, we've been married for, I don't know, thirteen years now, and he's still, like he he still is like, I don't know which what is what. You have to tell me.

Katie Burke:

And he, like, at because he's, like, he's, like, I just don't have good eyesight. Was, it's not about eyesight. It's, like the pattern they make. I don't know. They the motion they make.

Katie Burke:

Like, certain birds fly in a certain way and other birds don't. Like, I can just tell you by the way they're coming in, like, what they are.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And the flock the flock formation, that's another good tip.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That would be so beneficial when you're trying to, like, get it right on canvas versus, like, looking at pictures all the time because when I look at especially on I like that you do flying on the ducks, because I don't think a lot of artists think about I mean, I think the winners do, like, people who've won or close to winning, think about what it's gonna look like when you that's one of my biggest pet peeves, like, with the ducks stamp is, like, they didn't think about what this is gonna look like when they shrink it down. Like

Jim Hautman:

Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Like like, they were just, like, thinking about what they're gonna put on this size canvas, but you also have to think about what it's gonna look like as a stamp, and the flying birds really pop on stamps, like, especially if it's the because my other biggest pet peeve is when people don't put the full duck. I'm like, you're not gonna win. You have to put the full duck.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Yeah. That's tough too. Yeah. I heard some there was a couple comments about mine that that people thought it would be

Katie Burke:

too confusing.

Jim Hautman:

Because it's so great. It's three birds three birds flying, and I wanted to do three birds flying.

Katie Burke:

But you did a buffalo. You know,

Jim Hautman:

they've gotten into this thing one they do a big bird on the water because they know that'll look good as a stamp. But, I mean, I shrunk mine down, when I was working on it down to stamp size, and it was clearly three buffalo heads flying. So I

Katie Burke:

was worried about years and think that at all. I yeah.

Jim Hautman:

Good. Well, I I was worried that someone might think it, though. You know? Well But I think they look at them through a reducing glass at the judging, so they know they know what it looks like small.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Because that's a big yeah. That's the big thing when I look, I'm like, well, this one's not gonna work because that won't like, I well, I can, like, mark off a bunch of people. Like, that's not gonna work at this But, no, I would think you're three because they're buffleheads too because, like, they're little birds and they fly in a they don't you don't see single ones really, like, they kinda come in in a group.

Jim Hautman:

Well, they have such a distinctive pattern too. I mean, that's that's what's what I appealed to me about them and why I wanted to do them flying was just that pattern when they fly is so striking, just that black and white stripes. And I remember the first time seeing them fly by, I was like, wow. I can't I can't believe I just saw that.

Katie Burke:

And I think that's the cool thing about buffets. Like, seeing a sitting bufflehead, I don't know. They're not my favorite. They're, like, kind of they kind of have a Grieve look to them. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

They are cute. Though. But I think I don't know. I just I when I saw it like that, was like, oh, that's gonna shrink down and look nice. It'll pop.

Katie Burke:

Like, I because I think that's part of it is it's gotta stand out on the scenes.

Jim Hautman:

It yeah. It's that's one thing interesting about the contest is it's a painting that has to look good next to a bunch of other paintings. You know? It's not a standalone piece.

Katie Burke:

Interesting. I never thought of it that way, but that's true.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And and mine you know, and there's there's some luck there too in that, you know, when it got down to the end, the last the last four were three single birds Yeah.

Katie Burke:

And yours was the only fun. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

So, I mean, you know, if they're if they're maybe they're splitting votes on the on the other ones or whatever it was, but, you know, I I didn't go into it thinking, oh, yeah. I'm gonna win this year. I liked my piece, but but as I watched the judging unfold, I started to have a feeling like, hey. This this could win. And

Katie Burke:

Yeah. When I started getting down, realized I was like, oh, they really don't like wood ducks this year.

Jim Hautman:

I was

Katie Burke:

like, I I saw that was really surprising. I was kinda shocked by that because usually wood ducks are super them and pintails always win.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Pintails are pintails are amazing.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. They all those are the two, like, I feel like the most popular ones, and I was kind of shocked that they just were like, nope. Not picking any because Scott's wood ducks were really good.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Those were good. Yeah. He was leading after the second round. And then

Katie Burke:

they just were like, nah. We don't want a wood duck.

Jim Hautman:

I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what went through their minds. And Bob had a really nice one too. I thought he

Katie Burke:

I don't think I knew which one his was. I need to go back.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. His was the one that was right after

Katie Burke:

mine. So yeah.

Jim Hautman:

It was a single buffalo head on the water. Really, really well done. You know? And and there but there was a lot of single birds on the water. I think sometimes I think sometimes the judges are looking at 300 paintings and

Katie Burke:

Want something different. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

I don't know. Something different I think can can help, but then you never know. I mean, next year maybe it's a bunch of flying ones and the guy with one on the water wins. That sure happens.

Katie Burke:

And the judges are so different every time. Like, you never know what Yeah. What's gonna happen. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

Well, I was happy when I when I when the judging started, I looked at the panel and and I think three of them had camouflage on and another one I know was a a hunter and and then I thought, okay. That's good. Because hunters in general like flying birds probably more than non hunters is my observation.

Katie Burke:

Why do think that? Just interested.

Jim Hautman:

Well, because they they see them they see them Yeah.

Katie Burke:

It's more of, like, a feeling of place, I guess. Like, yeah, that's something you see. That makes sense. Because I would think that's like the big thing in wildlife art that drives hunters to buy stuff is it like reminds them of a place they hunt or

Jim Hautman:

Exactly. Yep. It's all about, you know, I mean, the hunting season's pretty short really, and you think about it the rest of the year and people just like to look at look at something on the wall that reminds them of, you know, their favorite time of year, hunting season.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Alright. So we have to get back to the beginning, but let's take a quick break and be right back.

VO:

Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited podcast, sponsored by Purina Pro Plan and Bird Dog Whiskey After these messages.

Katie Burke:

Alright. Welcome back. I'm here with Jim Hautman and we had kinda gone off and talked a little bit about this year with the duck stamp, but I wanna go back. When you were growing up, did you show interest in art early or not and always? Or, like, was it something Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. How did that look?

Jim Hautman:

Well, I mean, we have painting I have paintings that I don't remember doing from when I was really small. But I remember going to kindergarten and see, we all painted and drew in our house. And being the youngest one, my my stuff wasn't as good, you know? And I remember getting to kindergarten one day and they said, alright. We're gonna paint a a city scene.

Jim Hautman:

And all the kids got out crayons and watercolors and and mine turned out pretty good. I'm looking around at everybody else's, and I'm like, hey. Mine looks pretty good. And the teacher pulled mine aside and liked it. And I'm like, hey.

Jim Hautman:

I'm actually good at something. You know? And I but I didn't know that growing up because my brothers and sisters were all

Katie Burke:

Yep.

Jim Hautman:

Ahead of me. You know? Yeah. So I knew right away that it was something I like to do and that I was pretty good at, and surprisingly, I'm still doing it, like

Katie Burke:

Well, I think I've talked about this before just like I have young kids and but even for me too as a kid, like so my background, I stopped. I went into art, and I was a fine arts major at first, I didn't like being told what to do, so I quit that and became an art history major. Mhmm. But that being told by somebody that you're good at something that isn't your parents, like, it has an effect on kids. Like, when they when they hear that, like, I feel like it's it means because it definitely did something to me.

Katie Burke:

Like, I was told that I was good at it by people that weren't my parents. Yeah. And then I was like, oh, okay. Well, I can do this. This is something and I was the youngest too, so I was, like, wanting to stand out in some way, and I was like, oh, well, I can be the I can be the artsy one.

Katie Burke:

Like, that's that's fine.

Jim Hautman:

There you go.

Katie Burke:

And and so, like, I mean and, obviously, it affected me because then I went into art history and curatorial stuff, so I don't know. That does have an impact, like, when you're told you're you're pretty good at something, like, then

Jim Hautman:

Yep. But I think some people just naturally gravitate towards art too. I mean, some people are just

Katie Burke:

Oh, yeah. A 100%.

Jim Hautman:

You know? I mean, it's not necessarily about creativity or certainly not about coordination. It's just it's it's all about are you visual and do you do you see things and and does that make you excited to do something about it, you know?

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I think so too, and, like, I know like, I realized, you know, when I was in school that, like, oh, I'm good, but I'm not that good, so I'm maybe I'm not gonna, like, go that avenue, but I loved art. Like, I loved being around it. I loved seeing it. I I always could tell what was good.

Katie Burke:

Like, that's another thing. Like, I can I'm and I even can do it now with, like, the decoys. I pretty quickly figured out, oh, this is good and this isn't good. Like, I can tell, you know, like, you can see shape and form and that sort of thing.

Jim Hautman:

You should apply to be a judge on I've already tried. I

Katie Burke:

don't know. I I told Suzanne that I wanted to be one, so we shall they have to nominate you, I think.

Jim Hautman:

Oh, but you can let them know you're willing to be nominated.

Katie Burke:

That's that's fine. Yeah. So we shall see. It's coming to Memphis next year, so maybe maybe they'll give me a call.

Jim Hautman:

I heard that. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Hopefully, they hear this. I'm like, oh, we should call her. She's local. I don't we don't to help we don't have to pay for her to be there. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

No.

Jim Hautman:

Well, that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. I'll be Yeah. I'll be there as the the reigning guy. I won't be entered, so that that makes it more fun when you're not in in the contest because it's a little more relaxing.

Jim Hautman:

It's still pretty intense just to watch.

Katie Burke:

I'm excited. And it'll be fun to have it here. I think we're having it here at headquarters. So, you know, you'll have lots of like, I'm sure people will come that are in in it, but, like, just the people in this office will have, you know, 200 people that'll be into it. So, yeah, it'll be it'll be neat.

Katie Burke:

I don't think I don't think we've ever done it here.

Jim Hautman:

I don't think you have. No. I mean, they they only started moving it around in the last fifteen years or so. It used to always be at the Department of Interior in Washington, and then they started moving it around. But but I think I think your place

Katie Burke:

Yeah. It'll be exciting. We'll have to do something on camera too when you're here, so to do another But one of okay. So you were artsy. So at what point did you do the junior duck stamp at all?

Katie Burke:

Was it did it exist then?

Jim Hautman:

No. That that was around.

Katie Burke:

So when would you have thought about who did the duck stamp first? Who, like, who entered first?

Jim Hautman:

Well, just going back. So, yeah, growing up, painted this, that, the other thing, know, just kind of whatever, not not for money up until, you know, late high school. You know, you're starting to think about, hey, I'm gonna have to make a living at some point. So right about I was probably about 18, I started doing some pen and inks and then selling a few, like I don't know the church had a little show or whatever. And then not spending a lot of time at it, and then we were painting actually, Bob and I were painting houses after, you know, when I got out of high school, which is because Joe is in college.

Katie Burke:

Right? Yeah. Because he's

Jim Hautman:

a Joe went to different he went to college for forever. Yeah. He has a a PhD in physics, and so he was off doing his thing, and Bob and I were painting houses and then painting ducks, and, you know, selling a few enough to keep buying materials anyway, and then we started entering duck stamp contests Okay.

Katie Burke:

So y'all were doing it together. Okay.

Jim Hautman:

Four. Yeah. Actually, I started first and then Bob saw me doing it and he thought, well, that looks like fun. I mean, all the all the materials were there, so he started and picked it up right away. And then Bob won the first ducks stamp contest if any of us.

Jim Hautman:

He won the Minnesota contest in 1987, and that was that was great. I mean, because you never really know if you're gonna make it till you make it. And and that was just the first big break, you know. And and when you're beating guys like Dave Moss and Terry Redlin Yeah.

Katie Burke:

So they were who was there at that time. So it was, like, Terry Redlin and

Jim Hautman:

Oh, there yeah. He was in it. And, actually, you know what? He'd won the year before Bob won it, so he was a judge. They used to have the the previous So winner that was great.

Jim Hautman:

And then and then all of a sudden, I won Delaware and Nevada back to back, and then the next one I won was

Katie Burke:

the third You were the youngest at that time. Right?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I was 25 when I won the title.

Katie Burke:

I guess you were the youngest until Adam Grimm won.

Jim Hautman:

Correct. Yep. That's a record you can't go

Katie Burke:

back I'm and you still secretly hoping his daughter steals it from him.

Jim Hautman:

So It

Katie Burke:

would it would surprise something. Yeah. I was little I told him this, and I'm friends with Adam. I told him when he won, you know, the year before, like, you know, last year, I was like, oh, I'm sad you lost because I kinda was hoping you would have to compete and she'd beat you.

Jim Hautman:

That wouldn't surprise me. She's serious, and she's talented.

Katie Burke:

So I was kinda I was I was just like, I'm a little sad. Now you have, like, three years off before you have to compete against her.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And maybe she'll win before then too.

Katie Burke:

So they may have a while, but who knows? Yeah. So, yeah, you were the youngest. And then at that time so what year was that that you won?

Jim Hautman:

It was 1989 that the contest was. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

So was it still the same way with like, is now, like, for careers? Like, when you win the stamp, it kinda changes your your career as a wildlife artist?

Jim Hautman:

It it it was more of a factor then.

Katie Burke:

That's what I thought. That was really what I was getting at. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

It it it was, and especially for me because I was, you know, relatively unknown at the time. And now, like, people are like, yeah. Oh, yeah. You won again? Oh, yeah.

Jim Hautman:

Yep. How many is that? Three, four, seven? What you know what I mean?

Katie Burke:

It's Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

Mhmm. But when you're 25 and you have never won it and you win it, that was quite it was quite the deal. I mean, my phone didn't stop ringing. I mean, I would hang it up. This was pre answering machine.

Jim Hautman:

But I would hang it up and I couldn't walk 10 feet, it would ring again. It was just insane. And this mostly friends and people congratulating me, but also everything newspapers and

Katie Burke:

Right.

Jim Hautman:

Galleries, and it just it was upending my life, but in a good way.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Because I I understand it more now, like, how it works now for wildlife forest, but at that point and then because you're so young too, like, I'm guessing at that point, yeah, you're just trying to win these competitions, right, so that you can get some money so you can continue doing it. I'm guessing that's the goal. So after winning the federal, how does that change your, like, focus as an artist? Like, because, I mean, you have this time off, you're not gonna start stop creating, so do something similar, or do you how do you like, as a as an artist, what are you kind of evolving as once you've gotten that support?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I guess I I can't really remember. Mean, this was a long time ago, but, you know, I mean, there was some something in me that wanted to keep doing what I was doing. Mhmm. But also you you wanna you don't wanna start copying yourself.

Jim Hautman:

You wanna branch out. So I've always painted a lot of different subject matters, but but ducks are probably my favorite to paint. I mean, there's and there's so many different species too. It's great and I can never get tired of it.

Katie Burke:

Yep. Birds and birds are interesting.

Jim Hautman:

Right. And I I remember what I really liked about it getting started was the fact that the contest is anonymous. So when when you're an unknown person and not good at, you know, tooting your own horn, just be able to do something and no one would know who it was was so appealing rather than having them look at it and say, well, okay, this is a nice painting, but who did it and what's their resume and how old are they? You know, to me, that was the big appeal of the the duck stamp.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And it still is, like, you know, there are certain, you know, I think some of us out here can pick out certain people. I mean, I'm not always good at it. I can get it wrong too. I can sometimes pick out certain artists, but but I get it wrong as much as I get it right.

Katie Burke:

Like because I did not guess Bob's this time. Yeah. And, like

Jim Hautman:

Did you guess mine?

Katie Burke:

I I thought it was yours. I had I was pretty sure I think I had another one that I was, like, maybe this one. Like Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

Think it

Katie Burke:

was, like, well, another it was another flying duck, but I thought so just by the mostly by the by what was the word I'm looking for? Like, the layout of it. Yeah. That's where like, the background is got closer on the background than I did on the yeah. That other one, was like, I don't think the background's right.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Well, it's because

Katie Burke:

you have a moss vibe to your background.

Jim Hautman:

Well, I like to I don't try to have them recognizable either. I, you know, I

Katie Burke:

I No. I don't think

Jim Hautman:

people do. I would like to do something that no one well, and I think that when I won with the three geese in 2017, nobody knew that was mine. No. And it was different. And even one of the judges I knew, and she didn't know it was mine.

Jim Hautman:

She was surprised at the end to it. That was something I really liked about that. That was a funny one because I had done the study for that two years prior and it was very different. You know, again, the smaller birds flying three of them and I really liked it. I showed it around a lot of people and I just wasn't getting the reaction.

Jim Hautman:

They're like, well, that doesn't look like a normal duck stamp. And and my brother Joe really liked it though and I thought, you know what? I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna so I did I did some Canada geese on the water and they didn't do very good. And then the next time geese were eligible, I didn't have time and I was just gonna resend the one on the water back in.

Jim Hautman:

And then with four days to go, I thought, you know what? I always regretted not doing that painting, so I just sat down and worked straight for four days and and didn't expect to win and it won, and there was something really satisfying about that and the fact that nobody knew who it was.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I get them sometimes. I definitely guess Joe Swan. I had that one down. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That one what also looks like another one he did.

Jim Hautman:

Both of his swans are like, when Joe gets Yeah. When Joe nails one, I mean, we just look at it and go, okay. You're gonna win. You win.

Katie Burke:

The light on that one was so good. I just yeah. It was and doing white birds is it's tough, you know, like, make them look good. But, yeah, I guess that well, this one, I couldn't get that many people this time. I thought I had Rebecca's and I had it wrong.

Katie Burke:

She was somebody she was a different one, and it really surprised me. Yeah. Because last year I had her pegged, and this year I was like, I had I was way off.

Jim Hautman:

Which one was she? Now I can't remember.

Katie Burke:

She was a wood duck on the water, and she was towards the end.

Jim Hautman:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was nice.

Katie Burke:

I had hers and Madison's confused. They were similar.

Jim Hautman:

Madison's was the one standing in shallow water. Right? Yeah. Yep. I recognized Scott's and

Katie Burke:

I asked Scott scientific.

Jim Hautman:

Alexander I recognized, and but, yeah, not as many as normal. I probably recognized only 10 or so.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And then I had some people down to like a couple, like, oh, this might be this person, but this also might be this person. Yeah. Yeah. I think I had you down to two, and I was like, I think this is his.

Katie Burke:

And then when it popped up towards the end, I was like, it's definitely Jim. Because the other one was the one I was iffy on, I was like, oh, no. I'm right

Jim Hautman:

this time.

Katie Burke:

That's interesting, like, you said, how often do you when you're going into the DUC stamp, do you change do you change your mind like that often, or do you leave it that late?

Jim Hautman:

No. I I use

Katie Burke:

It just depends.

Jim Hautman:

I usually start at least a month ahead. And that that goose one was that was a whole different deal. I think that's part of why it turned out too. I just I had an idea in my head, so I wasn't changing things. I was just concentrating on my idea, and it went really fast.

Jim Hautman:

You know, whereas a lot of times, like, this year with my background, I originally had it set on a real calm dead calm lake with a nice reflections and, you know, it but it just didn't it didn't work. It didn't have the action, you know, the birds looked kind of frozen. And actually, it was Bob's suggestion. He said, well, why don't you put waves in there?

Katie Burke:

And Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

We were driving home from somewhere and he said that I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I got home and just painted the the the water out and and actually had to do the waves three times. But that once there was waves in there, that gave the birds action too. So it was that was a good Yep. That was a good call on his part.

Jim Hautman:

I'm glad he I'm glad he wasn't second place.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That would've been that would've been mean. How do y'all often, like, consult each other on your stuff? Like, are you always kind of going back?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Pretty much, you know, and more so on the duck stamps. On the regular paintings, almost every one I do, I'll I'll either bring it over to them or email and get the critique. And that is really helpful, but especially on a duck stamp because on a duck stamp, any little thing wrong can sink you. So you want some eyes looking at it to tell you in case you're you're missing something because you may you look at it so much you can miss something and then if you put it away and pulled it out a year later, it'd be obvious what you did wrong.

Katie Burke:

But Right.

Jim Hautman:

So it's nice when you're working on it to have some feedback. So, yeah, we're always and then comparing them up, that helped too. I remember comparing mine up to Bob's this year with about, I don't know, two weeks left, and and his his kind of blew mine away. This was before the waves and stuff too. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

And that just, you know, it just made me know that I need to do something because if I can't beat him, I'm not gonna win. So I know I'd better beat at least him. And but, yeah, his was really nice too. I I actually thought he was gonna win this year.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. He's due one, you know, he hasn't had one

Jim Hautman:

in a minute. It hadn't been that long, but

Katie Burke:

No. He had his last one was a canned goose.

Jim Hautman:

No. He did flying mallards in That's right.

Katie Burke:

That was the last time I think mallard.

Jim Hautman:

16 or something. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I just imagine y'all having each other has gotta be, like, the biggest advantage.

Jim Hautman:

It's great.

Katie Burke:

That y'all have. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

And and when my mom was alive too, she was she was great at critiquing too because, you know, she kinda looked at it different than other people did, you know. She just had such an eye for design and and things, and so she would point stuff out that no one else would. You know? And it would Yeah. You know?

Jim Hautman:

Something that like, especially when she got older, she'd be like, well, this this is confusing. What what's going on here? You know? And and then you knew, well, that's good to know. There's something there.

Jim Hautman:

There's a way to see that. It isn't the way I want people to see it.

Katie Burke:

Right.

Jim Hautman:

So even if even if someone can't tell you, I mean, I I get critiques from everybody, you know, the electrician or the neighbors or, you know, just anybody because people can see things that you can't see because you you could kinda snow blind to the thing.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And I think being siblings is well, like, and then your mom, like, you're not worried about hurting the other person's feelings.

Jim Hautman:

Oh, no. No.

Katie Burke:

No. Like, that doesn't bother that's not you know, if it's a friend or something I mean, eventually, if you're good enough friends, it's fine, but, like, siblings, they don't we don't care about hurting

Jim Hautman:

the other

Katie Burke:

person's feelings. Like, it's not a thing.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And I learned early on too, you know, if you're struggling on a painting or whatever and and someone starts critiquing and telling it, and then you start to get mad or defensive about it. I learned early on that that means they're right and you're wrong, you know? And that's partly why you're getting mad. So, you know, even if the the reason that they say something isn't working, you know there's something there that's that's not right, and it's just helpful to know that it needs to be changed.

Jim Hautman:

So you you kinda go back to the drawing board and say, what if I was starting over? Would I do it like that? No.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And that's really good advice, like, in that they what they're saying may not be what you should do, but there's definitely something that should be done.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Well, I had a wood a wood duck painting I was working on last summer, and it had three wood ducks standing on this kind of curvy, snaky looking branch. I wasn't too sure about it. And several people said, oh, I I like that branch. And I remember I was telling that to Joe.

Jim Hautman:

He says, oh, that's not good. The fact that they kept singling it out and saying they like didn't mean they like the painting. You know what I mean? Yeah. And yeah.

Jim Hautman:

So I took it out and and put something else in there and it and it worked. So it's it's even a positive comment can be a negative comment sometimes.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Well, especially when for the duck stamp, Like, you don't want people there was another one that was like that this time. I remember people were saying, like, they like the branch, and I was like, well, you don't want the branch to be the focal point of the duck stamp.

Jim Hautman:

Right.

Katie Burke:

It's not it's not the branch stamp. It's the duck stamp. So, like, yeah, you may wanna that's not good.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. You're right. Because, like, that's that's a huge thing. That's really interesting. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

But that relationship y'all have is I think I think that helps y'all so much

Jim Hautman:

Oh, for sure.

Katie Burke:

For success. Yeah.

Jim Hautman:

And I know there are other artists, some artists that I know, they do have little artist groups that get together, and I'm sure that works the same way. You know, people probably critique, you know, they critique each other's paintings and then whoever's getting critique gets mad. Then you have a chance to get even when they put their painting up there too, but it's

Katie Burke:

That's right.

Jim Hautman:

It's all good. You gotta be able to take it. If it's taking the meds, then then it's your fault, your own fault probably.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That was you know, when you grow up and you're, like, going through art, like like, you know, any art classes when you grow up, like, in elementary, middle, and high school. And when I first went to my first, like, drawing class in college, and we had to put our and it was, like, the kind of drawing class where they would, like, stat like, in the middle of the room, there would be a platform, and then there would just be a bunch of crap. Like, just, you know, like, draw your angle of this pile of stuff. And then you'd have to put them all up.

Katie Burke:

And that first critique, I was like, oh, this is gonna be was like, no. I've never had to do this before. Like, this is this is a new experience. This is gonna be super humbling.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Some people can't take it. Some people can't take it, and they don't show their stuff to people like that. You know?

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And it's definitely not helpful, you know, in the end. Yeah. You definitely have to show yourself. I I've been very impressed with some of these younger duck stamp artists who are putting everything online, like, whole process.

Jim Hautman:

That's interesting, isn't it?

Katie Burke:

It's very vulnerable.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Because it is I mean and I talked to I don't think we talked about this on her episode, but I think I talked about with Rebecca when I saw her at Easton and about this because, you know, she's been entering for a long time and has had such growth as an artist over that time. Like, you can kinda look at all our entries and just looking at every like, looking at having your growth be published like that, that's tough.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I don't do that. I'm not I'm not on any any I but, you know, I could see it being helpful, though.

Katie Burke:

Oh, yeah. It's definitely helpful. I think they get a lot more you know, they're kinda fast pacing some of the help that they may not have gotten if they were doing it on their own. You know, it helped connect them to other artists

Jim Hautman:

Yeah.

Katie Burke:

A little bit faster. But, yeah, it's just it's vulnerable.

Jim Hautman:

It is.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I can't imagine doing that and having and knowing and then also, you talked about this earlier, but, you know, yours is anonymous, like, no one knows who that that was your painting until the end. Right? But these people, like, we know who their which ones their paintings are. Like

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I know.

Katie Burke:

That's So we're watching it get judged.

Jim Hautman:

That's a little bit weird too. I I'm not sure how they get away with that because that is kinda counter to the whole anonymous part. You know?

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I'm sure they have to like, the judges have if they have Instagram, they have to, like, not, like, you know, turn off that like, those people.

Jim Hautman:

You would hope so. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I would think so. Yeah. Because you don't want any sort of, like, favorite because that's the great thing about the duck stamp is that you don't know who

Jim Hautman:

it is.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. So there's no favor to do.

Jim Hautman:

It's great.

Katie Burke:

No. But that's, yeah, that's a really different what do you think about that in terms of, like, promoting the duck stamp?

Jim Hautman:

Well, I think it's great for promoting it. Yeah. You know? But it's it's mostly promoting it to artists, which is good, you know, but I I wish there was a way to promote it more towards collectors and potential collectors, you know. Like, I'd love to see more bird watchers get into the duck stamp and collect the duck stamp, you know.

Jim Hautman:

Yep. So that that social media, it it sure can hurt that, but I'm guessing that most of the people that follow that are are artists that

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That's a good that's interesting. Yeah. I didn't think about it that way. I don't know.

Katie Burke:

I don't know the answer to that if it's mostly artists or I don't think it's bird watchers.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. But I mean, it lead if it leads to PR of any kinds, you know, that mushrooms out and any any press is good press like they say.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. And so which is also interesting because now you can buy it online. Do y'all still get for the online purchases? Does that, like how does that work for the artist now that it's online? Do you know?

Jim Hautman:

You know, I just I just go old fashioned and just go into the post office and buy my stamp usually. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. But does that, like, affect so because for you as like, when you when the what do you get just like I feel like we did this before with Joe, but explain to me, like, what does the artist get when after he after he or she wins the stamp?

Jim Hautman:

Well, the the official prize is a pane of stamps, so I think that's 20 or 25 stamps. They give you a pane of stamps, and it's usually signed by the director of the fish and wildlife and a bunch of the dignitaries. And and that's that's the only official prize, really, because all all the money they raise goes towards Habitat. So the artist doesn't make anything off the stamp. Of course, it's just through marketing of the prints and Yeah.

Katie Burke:

But the prints is where y'all make your money

Jim Hautman:

Right.

Katie Burke:

Do this thing. So, like, One Ducks Unlimited, for example, like, puts all the prints in the their, like, package for event package.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And and then You make money. And then every every print that's sold usually gets at least one stamp, sometimes two stamps with it. So Yep. But

Katie Burke:

Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. I couldn't remember.

Katie Burke:

But, yeah, so it makes it off the print. So you want like, that's what was trying to think, like, because hunters knowing more about it and buying more stamps does not necessarily because they're gonna buy duck hunters are gonna buy stamps anyway. They

Jim Hautman:

have to

Katie Burke:

buy stamps. So but the but the online sale of the stamp doesn't affect y'all at all. It you're just going through the print.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I think that's true. I don't think that's a real effect, you know. Yeah. Like, a lot of a lot of hunters just buy the stamp because they have to buy the stamp to hunt, you know.

Jim Hautman:

But there's a lot of them that'll buy two, one for their collection and

Katie Burke:

My dad buys, five for and he does not collect them, but I don't know why he just buys, like, robotic fuzz.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. I I do too.

Katie Burke:

Just to have them. Yeah. I think he also has them, like, in case someone shows up and they didn't buy their stamp, he's like, here you go sign that one.

Jim Hautman:

Nice. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Because we take a lot of people hunting, so I think he does it. But he because he says, I already got you a stamp, I'm like, but I bought my own stamp.

Jim Hautman:

Well, good. That's more money for Habitat. Yeah.

Katie Burke:

Yes. But, yeah, he does that. I don't know. He just buys, like, five of them. I, like, buy mine online, but I get it shipped to me.

Katie Burke:

Okay. So what will you do so you have some promotional stuff you'll have to do, which you don't have to go to you may we talked about this before, I think off, but you may not be going to Easton because of government shutdown. But what will you do for the next three years? Like, what will you do like, what would you focus on now that you you you're not gonna be doing the duck stamp. So, artistically, what do you do?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Well, they yeah. I'll have some promo of the stamp for the first year. I'm gonna judge the junior duck, and we'll do the, you know, bunch of promo. As far as what am I gonna paint, you know?

Katie Burke:

Yep. What are you gonna paint?

Jim Hautman:

Don't know. I I have a clean slate right now. I just finished some canvas backs, and I didn't have anything started, so I pulled out one out of the back closet that I had worked on and stopped and it's a bobcat. But I don't know. You know, it's it's hunting season.

Jim Hautman:

I'm heading out to North Dakota Saturday, and, you know, that might determine what I do next. It just kinda depends on what moves me. You know? I don't I don't have any deadlines coming up right now, so it's kinda nice. I can just wait for inspiration and see what happens.

Katie Burke:

Do you still take commission work?

Jim Hautman:

I do. Yeah. Not not a lot. You know? It's gotta be something that, you know, that I'm interested in and that I think I can do a good job of.

Jim Hautman:

You know? When you're starting out, you just have to say yes to everything, you know. Yeah. But right now, you know, if it's a subject matter that I'm interested and I think I can do a good job of it, I'll do it. I will do commissions, but the next thing I do, I'm not sure.

Katie Burke:

Scott, I had him on, and do you do what he does? He says, if he takes commission, he's gotta go hunting wherever his commission is so he can hunt.

Jim Hautman:

I like the angle. Yeah. Well, and it helps too, you know, especially

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I'm sure it does, but I was like, it also is fun.

Jim Hautman:

You know? I've done some dog portraits too. And

Katie Burke:

He said that's the thing he hates the most.

Jim Hautman:

You you know? But I always insist that I meet the dog, you know? Yeah. Because they could send you 500 photos, but you might not get it right. So it's if I do a dog portrait or something or if I paint a certain place, I need to I need to see it, I think,

Katie Burke:

To get the feeling of it. Mhmm. I see that. And I yeah. I get that with a dog too because a dog has especially retrievers, they have a lot of expression, and when you meet them versus Well,

Jim Hautman:

and their owner knows them so well that, you know, there may be one little quirky thing they do with their eye or whatever that and if you don't get it right, they're gonna know, but you aren't gonna know. But if you but if you meet the dog, I think you have a lot better chance of of capturing what it whatever its special qualities are.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. I was wondering how that worked. Do you have, like, the same people who commission stuff? Do you do a lot of similar, like, work for people?

Jim Hautman:

You know, I don't you know, like I said, I don't do a lot of commissions. You know, it just kinda depends on you know, I don't I don't do a lot of shows. I don't do any marketing, so I'm kinda just

Katie Burke:

You don't need to at this

Jim Hautman:

here by myself, and if somebody likes my stuff well enough to track me down, you know, that's a big compliment right there. And then if if they have an idea I think I can do justice to, then then I'm in.

Katie Burke:

Okay. That's yeah. I mean, that's the privilege too of getting to where you are in your career. You don't have to

Jim Hautman:

It's nice.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. You don't have to do everything that everyone wants you to do. Last question because if I don't, people will be mad at me. So how did you feel about the Fargo mentioned Oh. In your career?

Katie Burke:

How was that for you?

Jim Hautman:

I thought it was great. I thought the movie was great, and and it was fun to, you know, be a little part of it, and we got to go down to the set. And

Katie Burke:

Oh, really?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Because they they they had borrowed all our stuff out of our studio. So the paintings and the easel, all that was out of our

Katie Burke:

Oh, that was all of your stuff.

Jim Hautman:

So they took it all and set up a easel in the studio set, you know, with just the three walls. That was really amazing to walk around the corner and see that. I was like, wow. That looks like I actually looked more like Bob's studio than mine, but and then Still. And then the actor that played the Duck Stamp artist, he came over and wanted to know all about what it was like, and and and I like love the Cohn Brothers movies too.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Me too. That's what they're like we were just having, like, a stupid conversation, and I was like, yeah. They're probably my favorite.

Jim Hautman:

They're they're

Katie Burke:

Yeah. Like, directors. Yes.

Jim Hautman:

So They are amazing. Yeah. And then, of course, we knew them growing up too. That's how that all

Katie Burke:

Oh, really?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. They were neighbors. You know? They were about two blocks away, and they were older than me, so I didn't know them that well. But they hung out with with Joe and Bob and Mark and Amy.

Jim Hautman:

They were all the same age. So and they were

Katie Burke:

That's funny.

Jim Hautman:

Were making movies as kids. I remember they made a movie in the woods right out behind our house, and Mark was in it.

Katie Burke:

Were y'all all so artsy?

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. And so and so that's kinda I think and then when they they went off to do their thing and their mom would always send them articles, like, we'd win, she'd mail them articles. And then if they made a movie or something, our moms would send us the article. So it's kinda cute really anyway, so that was cool to see it come full circle and and get a mention in a movie like that.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. That's funny. And that makes so much more sense now, like, that that's why they mentioned it.

Jim Hautman:

Yeah. Like, how else

Katie Burke:

would they Yeah. Exactly. I mean, I, like, remember because I grew up in Ducks Unlimited and in, like, you know, the world of waterfowl, and, like, I think the first time I saw Fargo, I was probably, you know, high school, college, and I was like, I know who they are.

Jim Hautman:

You're probably the only one in the theater who knew what they were talking about.

Katie Burke:

I know who they are. And but, yeah, I didn't realize. It makes so much more sense that y'all grew up, like, together. Yeah. That makes a lot more sense.

Jim Hautman:

Well, and then and then they had it like a postage stamp too. You remember that that Houtman's won the Doug's stamp, but he got the 3¢ stamp or whatever.

Katie Burke:

Yes. We thought that's not a thing.

Jim Hautman:

Told the told those guys, it's like, that's not what it's like. It's they said, yeah. Yeah. That's not a thing. We know, but he needed to win something, so we had I'm like, that's fine.

Jim Hautman:

Whatever.

Katie Burke:

They needed Norm to get his

Jim Hautman:

consolation is

Katie Burke:

the nicest person in the they're like the nicest two people in that whole movie, so that's what I

Jim Hautman:

do. I remember when they were first asking about it, was like, you're not gonna make this look too ridiculous. Sorry. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Katie Burke:

No. It's the most, like, it's like the, like, the homiest part of It's the yeah.

Jim Hautman:

I remember watching it in the theater, and a couple people were just cracking up at that part. And I was just thinking, wonder why. Why are they laughing? Like, is it really that weird of a thing that we do? I guess it is pretty weird painting ducks for a living.

Jim Hautman:

I don't know.

Katie Burke:

I don't know. That yeah. I didn't that's not why I did what you did. It's like, there's no 3¢ thing. Well, okay.

Katie Burke:

Thank you. Thank you for humoring me with that. I really had to had to ask. Well, thanks for doing this. This was really fun.

Jim Hautman:

Well, thanks for having me. It was enjoyable.

Katie Burke:

Yeah. When you come for to when you come to Memphis, we'll have to do it again in person.

Jim Hautman:

Okay. Yeah. Deal. That's a deal.

Katie Burke:

Thanks, Jim, for coming on the show, and thanks to our producer, Chris Isaac, and thanks to you, our listener, for spraying wetlands and waterfowl conservation.

VO:

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VO:

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