Ariah Lowell, 13, shown here with her chicken Scarlett, earned Best in Show in the Maine Junior Duck Stamp competition. Her painting of a wood duck in flight has advanced to the national contest. Rebekah Lowell Photo
BIDDEFORD — Ariah Lowell likes drawing and painting birds, flowers, and bugs and she keeps a nature journal of what she sees in the great outdoors.
She is particularly adept at painting ducks — and her work was recently named Best in Show in the state’s Junior Duck Stamp competition for her oil painting of a wood duck in flight.
Last year, she came in first in the state competition for her harlequin duck painting — which took third place in the national division.
This year Ariah’s Best in Show will also go on to the national competition
Ariah said she likes painting waterfowl.
“Ducks have very diverse feather patterns,” she said.
Ariah Lowell’s oil painting of a wood duck in flight earned Best in Show at the Maine Junior Duck Stamp competition. Lowell, of Biddeford, is a keen artist who paints or draws most days. Courtesy Image/Ariah Lowell
At age 13, Ariah, of Biddeford, said she has been making art for as long as she can remember. She paints in watercolor, oil, acrylics, and more. She creates tests for herself, like her 30-day challenge to paint one of her chickens every day.
Her talent for art seems to be a family trait.
Her mother, Rebekah Lowell, is an artist, and illustrates and writes books, as well as making fine art — and she just won first place in the state’s adult Duck Stamp competition, one of several she has won over the years.
“I learned from watching her paint,” said Ariah.
“I always made sure to have art supplies around so they could pick it up if they wanted,” said Rebekah of Ariah and her sister Electrah “Leski,” 15, who took second place in the junior duck stamp competition. Both girls are homeschooled.
Ariah is a member of the York County Young Birders Club. A week or so ago, she saw the woodcock dance — a sure sign of spring – on an outing at the Kennebunk Land Trust.
For the Lowell’s, outdoor pursuits and art go hand in hand.
Ariah was to accompany her mother to the Center for Wildlife in York on a recent day, to teach a class on nature drawing.
The family also rescues injured birds for Avian Haven; a recent rescue was a snowy owl, which was found unwell in Biddeford Pool, among others.
Birding comes naturally to the Lowell’s; their grandfather and great-grandfather were keen birders, her mother Rebekah said.
What is next?
Well, Ariah said she would like to explore falconry, and she is also looking ahead to the future.
“I want to be a scientific illustrator for birds,” she said.
The Junior Duck Stamp is a pictorial stamp produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recognize the conservation efforts of young people and support environmental and conservation education programs in the United States. The art competition is the culmination of students’ study of waterfowl and wetlands conservation. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a winning stamp design is selected from state winners. The first-place entry graces that year’s Junior Duck Stamp and is sold by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Postal Service and Amplex Corporation for $5.
“Last year was (Ariah’s) first ever oil painting, and she repeated the technique this year to great success, capturing tremendous details from every feather on down to the glistening drops of water trailing behind the flying duck,” said Melissa Kim of Maine Audubon, which coordinates the competition with the U. S Fish and Wildlife Service.
Five judges gathered at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm center in Falmouth in early March to choose winners from more than 450 paintings, sketches, drawings, and other artworks from K-12 students ranging in age from 6 to 18, said Kim.
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