Back to RW46   Back to the Federal Index   Home

A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE 46TH (1979-80) DUCK STAMP ARTIST

Lawrence Ken Michaelsen got an early start in art.   He began entering poster contests at age 10.  He won several of these, but met with a not-so-disappointing disappointment when he was 12.  It seems that the judges had determined that his entry was ineligible because it was undoubtedly the work of a professional.  He was delighted to see his work being taken so seriously.

His professional training started almost at birth, because paint ran in the veins of the Michaelsen family. His father, Lawrence Michaelsen, was a painting contractor in San Francisco and his mother, Florence, painted in her spare time as a "profitable hobby." Lawrence K. Michaelsen (better known as Ken) was born into this artistic environment on October 1, 1936.

His artistic inclination began to surface by the time he was eight years old.  He and his father would entertain themselves for hours by sitting at the kitchen table and drawing outlandish cartoons for each other.  This sort of good, wholesome fun served to sharpen young Ken's skills as an artist.

Mr. Michaelsen enlisted in the United States Air Force after graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California.  He held a job he enjoyed, however, working in the Air Force art department for his entire tour of duty.  During his hitch, he also moonlighted in various art oriented jobs.

For two years, starting in 1967, he held a number of jobs involving commercial art searching to find his niche in the art world.  For two years after that he tried free-lancing, but that proved equally unsatisfactory.  He finally decided that the solution was to break all ties and pursue a goal which had been beckoning him for a long time.  He packed up the family and all their belongings and moved to a farm in Peace River, Alberta, Canada.  He had dreams of farming in the summer and painting in the winter, but the land and Mother Nature were more cruel than he had expected.  They returned to California three months later, broke and physically exhausted.

He returned to the maddening world of commercial art but he never lost the desire for freedom.  He finally began to find it, in 1972, when a hunter friend of his commissioned him to paint a Dall Sheep, his first wildlife subject.  He thoroughly enjoyed working on the painting and knew he had found his calling when he finished.  After several other commissions to paint wildlife subjects he once again decided to drop out of commercial art.  The break was permanent this time.  By winning the Duck Stamp competition he firmly established himself in his new field and paved the way to a secure future.  Mr. Michaelsen is not only an artist, but also an accomplished photographer with considerable equipment.  He likes to spend his leisure time playing tennis, canoeing, hiking, fishing, and playing the guitar.

--------------------THE ART--------------------

Green-Winged Teal was painted in full-color gouache.  The print is a photolithograph mechanically reproduced in four colors with Jeffries Archival 100 paper.  The prints are hand signed in pencil and numbered in an edition of 7,000 regular prints, 1500 with companion piece and 600 artist proofs. The image size is 7" x 9-7/8".

--------------------THE STAMP--------------------

Green-Winged Teal…Engraved by the Federal Bureau of Engraving from the original artwork. Printed in orange, green, brown, grey, blue, and black ink.  The stamp sold for seven dollars and fifty cents. Postal records show 2,209,572 stamps sold. First day of sale was July 1, 1979.  This was the first seven dollar and fifty cent stamp.

Most of the information contained above is from the book Federal Duck Stamp Story, Fifty Years of Excellence, by Laurence F. Jonson; Alexander & Co.  It is used here with permission from the author. For more information on this book, please click here.