Les C. Kouba's Wildlife Prints

• Bills Attack at 7 AM
• Bow Hunter's Dream
• Boxcar Bush & Deer
• Cry of the Loon
• By the Country Store
• Dudes Bush Hangout
• Foggy Morning Bills
• Nature Calls
• New Plumbing at Deer Camp
• Old Pals
• Popple Ridge Tree Stand
• The Loon Ballet
• Ringnecks After Gravel
• The Shelter Trilogy
• Trusting Bills
• White Wind.

Can you find the 13 elements on each of the prints?
    Les also did many fishing prints. We've added some of these on another page for you to enjoy and pick from. Any avid fisherman would love to have one of these to enjoy on their wall all year long:

• Bass AM
• Bass at Daybreak, Bass at Daybreak Trilogy
• Bass Feeding
• Bye Bye Blackbird
• Darkhouse Action
• Darkhouse Finale
• Darkhouse Spearing
• Darkhouse Trilogy
• Live Log
• Northern ala Froglegs
• Northern Feeding on Perch
• Pan Fish Bonanza
• Pan Fishin', Pan Fishin' Trilogy
• Sunny Slam
• Trout for Breakfast
• Walleyes Feeding on the Flats

    Mr. Kouba's works have appeared on national magazine covers and have received many awards and official recognition. He was twice named winner of the Federal Duck Stamp competition and was honored in "Men of Achievement" and "Who's Who in Art." In 1976 he was elected D.U. Artist of the Year and in 1980 was the recipient of the "King Charles International Award" recognizing achievement in art. When he died in 1998, Les. Kouba left a legacy--a large body of beautiful wildlife art to be appreciated by generations to come.  If you're interested in more information on Kouba, try AskArt.com.
    We have loved Les Kouba's wildlife art for years. He actually began the wildlife art trend before Terry Redlin. He came from Hutchinson, Minnesota, but lived out his years in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also know for his Americana prints.
    Prints are limited editions, signed and remarqued. Shipping and insurance (S&I) of $20 for just a print and $20 for a framed print are included in the prices listed by each print below. Prints are frame in a hardwood complemented by a color coordinated double mat, glass, backing, and hanger to finish the framing package.
    Call today, 507-223-5721, to place your order, or, use our email order form. We'll call you back to finalize your choice of framing. We take Visa and Master Card via personal contact at this time. Your print will be on it's way as soon as it is framed.

One of the things I like best about being an artist is when I come up with an idea, I can grab a pencil and paper and just sketch it out," says Kouba. "My mind is always full of possibilities for paintings. I often get a new idea by watching and listening to the remarks my customers make when they visit the gallery. I'm keenly interested in what they see, what they're looking for, and what they admire in a painting.
"By listening, I found out that Headin' for Shelter with those 13 pheasants and that little cottontail rabbit turned the dudes on so much-they had to have another and another. I released the print in 1974 at $40. Almost instantly it clicked, sending the value soaring to over $2,000 if you were lucky enough to find one.
   "I never really anticipated that Headin' for Shelter, In Shelter, and finally, Leavin' Shelter would be the large sellers they turned out to be. I knew I had a good thing going -- I was painting something that hadn't been painted before. This made it very exciting for me. I had seen your typical run-of-the-mill pheasant art before. I was doing something completely different. I was pouring true detail and nostalgia into the painting. I painted it at the right time in the right way. Most artists would shy away from those images because they're so detailed and involved. In terms of art study, they may be too 'busy.' But I go beyond any classic rules. I paint a scene how I think it should be. That's my guiding rule.
"One of the problems with painters today," says Kouba, "is they haven't experienced things firsthand. I grew up on a farm. I didn't have to go to the library to learn how to paint a barn. I helped build them, clean them, work in them. I know what a barn is, and I also know what farm machinery is and what it's used for. A lot of these kinds of mistakes are made because the artist doesn't know the subject matter. I only paint what I know. That's my secret.
"I also believe," says Kouba, "that an artist has to experiment in order to learn. I can paint in any medium. I've mastered both watercolors and oils. I've learned stone lithography, dry point etching and aquatint. In more recent years, I've also studied the process of photo-lithography and I now have a good grasp of that as well.
"I was never satisfied," he continues, "knowing just a little bit about something. I always wanted to know the whole ball of wax. I've found life to be an ongoing learning process.
"When I sold that first little painting many years ago, I thought, 'Wow! This is the way to go.' I would have been a painter no matter what price my paintings earned.
"I believe to be successful you must work at something you enjoy. For me, the thing I liked to do best was paint wildlife," says Kouba. "I wasn't content to look out the window for my ideas. I wanted to experience and learn all about the outdoors. I loved it so much, I'd be painting even if I didn't make any money at it. Being well paid for my efforts is a bonus.
"I always made a point of turning every experience into a learning opportunity," says Kouba. "Early in my career, I did a short stint as a taxidermist. I made careful anatomical studies of my mounts so that I would develop a true understanding of how everything fit together and worked.
"I also kept a drawing pad within easy reach. That way, anything that caught my eye, I could quickly sketch it. I not only studied the birds, animals, and fish that went into my paintings, but the actual settings that make my work authentic as well.
"With the invention of high quality, color film, I added the camera to my bag of tricks. There's nothing like it for catching detail. I've taken tens of thousands of Kodachromes of just about everything that would be of possible use in a painting.
"I don't just photograph a pretty landscape type scene. I get into the nitty gritty-where I go to the trouble of filming individual corn stalks, reeds, rocks, wild rice, pine trees, shorelines, tree stumps just about anything. You never know when you just might need a certain type of grass or sky formation to give a painting that special touch.
"'I've also taken miles of slow motion movie picture film of birds and animals-action footage. I go after ducks and geese to get that wing motion of the birds as they rise, fly, or drop into a marsh.
"Keep in mind, however, that the camera is only a tool. The painting comes from your heart and is fueled by your imagination.
"It's my tremendous attention to authentic detail that marks the difference between the artist who knows what he is painting and the one who thinks he can dream about something and make it look real on canvas.
"'I've found there's just too many collectors who go hunting and fishing and know what the outdoors looks like. They also know what ducks, geese, deer and fish look like. They won't be fooled and they want their wildlife paintings to look like the real thing. From his book, The Legacy of Les C. Kouba.

“Of all the paintings I’ve done, “Cry of the Loon” is the one my wife, Oriall, kept. The scene is typical of many of the trips we’ve taken through the years…When dusk comes in this quiet, very serene Northland, that’s when you’ll hear the almost eerie cry of the loon.”







“This was a picture I had in mind to paint for years and years. It was up in the Pine River country near Lake Lizzie where I hunted bluebills with my good friend, Lon Fields…I always had the idea to paint it and I finally did.”