BEHR Paint Colors for Ruddies

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, All~


I was recently asked for my Behr paint colors for Ruddy Ducks. Although I had carved a few, I had no Behr list - and had never carved or painted a Hen Ruddy.



I'm guessing many of you have found inspiration in the famous Ruddies featured in Joel Barber's Wild-Fowl Decoys. (I hope you own a copy!) I first read that book when I was 12 or so, I believe. Although already steeped in everything duck-shooting by that age - thanks to my Dad - the Dudley Ruddies told me I needed to make decoys someday.


Dudley Ruddies.jpg



I made this Ruddy for Susan sometime in the early '80s. I hollowed the walls of the body to about a quarter-inch - mostly just to see what I could do with my drill press and a razor sharp bent gouge. I still get a kick from others' expressions when they heft it for the first time. Like Dudley, I wanted a very simple paint job.



WS - Ruddy Drake - circa 1985 - cropped.jpg



Here's one I did - inspired by a fellow duckboats.net member - way back in the 'teens (2016). He got a fussier wardrobe.


Ruddy 06.JPG



That White cheek against the Black cap is one of Nature's master strokes, to my eye.


Ruddy 03.JPG



I used a portrait of the original Drake to make my Behr chart - with a simple gunning paint job.


Ruddy Drake - BEHR colors.jpg



I had to paint a piece of card stock to mimic a Hen. Her paint got a few more brush strokes - from me, not from Nature. (And, the greyish feather edgings look a bit too blue-ish in this photo.)



Ruddy Duck Hen - BEHR colors.JPG



As I usually do, I selected colors that I use on other species. Only the Drake's bill needs a bit of custom mixing - if "needed" by the painter.


BTW: I have never shot a Ruddy. We do not have many on Long Island. Whenever I encountered a bunch, though, I never saw them in the air. Even when chased, they seemed to fly as little as required at the moment - and then hurry back down, on or under the water. Wonderful little birds - and I'm happy just to share the Bay with them.


All the best,


SJS
 
Ruddies are cool little birds. Some years we would see quite a few on Mobile Bay. And more often than not they swam into the decoys vs flying. I shot a few over the years, found them quite palatable.
But more fun to watch as they fed in and around the spread.
 
Good morning, Tom~


Excellent! I expect to see them entered in the March 4 Contemporary Decoy Exhibition in Hauppauge....


I'm headed out to the shop right now.


All the best,


SJS
 
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