Emily Lian uses her love of nature and imagination when painting wildlife and it shows. The 17-year-old Bethany resident’s colorful image of an orange-billed king eider won first place in the national Junior Duck Stamp art contest. She is the first Oregon student to earn the top prize in the contest that started three decades ago and attracts about 25,000 students in kindergarten-12th grades from across the country each year.

Emily’s original oil painting of a king eider floating on water, its head tilted up as other ducks fly against a blue sky, has been reproduced as the 2024-2025 Junior Duck Stamp, which is for sale for $5.

The miniature pieces of art, which fund an art- and science-based conservation program offered to all schools, are available online at fws.gov/service/buy-duck-stamp-or-e-stamp and duckstamps.com as well as at some sporting goods and retail stores, and some post offices and national wildlife refuges.

Since the first Junior Duck Stamp went on sale in 1993, well over $1.4 million has been raised and re-invested in the educational program that encourages students in every state to learn about wetlands and waterfowl conservation and create a painting or drawing of a duck, goose or swan.

Emily’s stamp debuted June 28 alongside the 2024 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp that is required for waterfowl hunters as part of their annual license. Proceeds from the federal stamp fund wetlands habitats on national wildlife refuges, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sponsors both duck stamp programs.

Emily, who graduated from Beaverton’s Sunset High School this year and has been taking courses for 10 years at the Sun Century Art Academy, enjoys walking the Rock Creek Trail in Hillsboro, where there are wetlands with plenty of mallards, herons and other wildlife. She has also studied ducks at Commonwealth Lake Park in the Cedar Hills neighborhood and the pond at Amberglen Park in Hillsboro.

“Often when I am out on walks and hikes in nature, I take pictures on my cellphone of pretty and unique scenery and lighting, and of course, ducks for me to reference later in my painting process,” she told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The king eider, a sea duck that breeds on the Arctic coast, has been spotted in Hood River and on the Pacific Northwest coast.

For her winning image, Emily said she carefully selected the perspective and created the composition of the king eider to show a “confident and hopeful attitude.” Her choice to use a vibrant color palette allowed her to to diverge from a hyperrealistic style, she said.

“I didn’t want the painting to look like a photo,” she said, “so I challenged myself to rely more on my imagination instead of reference images for parts of the painting like the pose.”

Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s free online guide, All About Birds, called the male king eider the most ornately adorned waterfowl in the world with its black-and-white plumage, red-and-orange bill, pearl-blue crown and spring-green cheek. Females have a rich marbling of rusty brown and black.

Facebook comments praised Emily’s perspective and composition, talent and originality. “Not your typical stamp design! I love it,” posted professional wildlife iIllustrator Michael Kensinger.

Lian’s art teacher, Xiao Hong (Shirley) Xu, has included the Junior Duck Stamp program in her curriculum at Sun Century Art Academy since 2006 and said many of her students can identify more than 50 different species of ducks.

The program helps her students develop a deeper appreciation for wildlife and the environment as well as practice observing habitats, exercising patience in painting details such as feathers and water ripples, problem solving when facing frustration in the design process and expressing themselves artistically through color schemes and composition planning, Xiao said in a news release.

Last year, Emily placed third nationally in the Junior Duck Stamp contest for her painting of mallards. Over the years, she has also won local and state art awards.

Emily said she selected the king eider because of the unique shape of its head and its vibrant colors. Because it was her senior year in high school and final year competing in the contest, she wanted to try something bold, she said.

Emily plans to major in biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and enter the medical field.

Second place in the 2024 Junior Duck Stamp contest was awarded to Madison Grimm, 17, of South Dakota, and third place went to Victoria Hickerson, 16, South Carolina.

— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman