Reggies Blind

One of the great things about doing a show is the people you meet. 

During a recent one, another vendor approached me and struck up a conversation.

"Gooseman" from goosemancalls.com told me the story of his close friend and hunting partner Reggie.

Reggie passed away very unexpectedly one Autumn day. The pain of his passing was still clearly evident as 

Gooseman relayed the story of their friendship and their hunting exploits.

It seemed Reg had acquired a fine piece of swamp land that he hunted regularly. When Reg was

looking to buy that property, he told the then-owner that he would never pay a thousand dollars for a  piece of swamp, so he promptly settled on a price of $999.00.

That piece of swamp turned out to be a magical spot. You could watch the migrating flocks

split into two paths overhead. The coastal and eastern flyways.

They watched brant fly high overhead by the hundreds while an occasional eagle cruised the thermals.

Reg hunted and shot just about every legal form of waterfowl in New York from their blind in that swamp.

He saw ducks, geese, beaver, otter, eagles, crows, deer, grouse, woodcock, rabbit,  muskrat and mink

while they sat there.

After the story, Gooseman pulled up a picture on his phone. 

It was a shot from that duck blind, taken early in the morning...those mornings most people miss unless they're outdoorsmen.

I immediately said "I want to paint that," and we started talking about the specifics.

Gooseman told me how Reggie's widow, Arlene, had a birthday coming up and how he'd love

to present that painting to her. So the commissioned work was agreed on and I set off working on

"Reggies Blind"

The original now resides with Arlene, where she can see it every day and remember 

the magic of Reggies favorite spot and where his spirit lives on.