Meet the Artist
Madelynn Schabert’s love for drawing wildlife started as soon as she could pick up a pencil, but her passion for waterfowl was sparked while attending Butte College to study natural resources management. Her ecology professor, Rick Wittsell, worked with Brian Huber from the California Waterfowl Association to manage wood duck boxes on the campus’ wildlife refuge. She knew when she held a wood duck for the first time that she wanted to work with waterfowl, and from then on she started to volunteer with CWA to help with banding efforts. Wittsell encouraged her to give duck hunting a try, and at that point ducks became an obsession.
Madelynn had quit drawing entirely since early high school because of an art teacher who discouraged her from creating wildlife art. Connecting with waterfowl not only deepened her love for the outdoors through hunting, but also rekindled her love for drawing. After gifting her artwork to her classmates and to her professor, Wittsell encouraged Madelynn to start sharing her artwork online. As a result, she adopted the name “The Fowl Artist”, and began sharing her work on social media.
Madelynn had been drawing waterfowl in pencil for about a year before she found a wildlife artist named Ronald Goodman. She observed a bufflehead drawing of his that was done by ink stippling, and was inspired to give the technique a try.
She now specializes in this technique by capturing high levels of detail using ink dots. Madelynn likes to choose perspectives that are memorable, and display the birds in their natural element. As an artist, she strives to showcase the beauty of waterfowl and the essence of the hunt.
Besides drawing, Madelynn has other endeavors that all connect in some way. She works as a hatchery manager for one of CWA’s egg salvage facilities, and manages a wood duck box project on the same property. When she’s not there, she’s helping the waterfowl technicians with more wood duck boxes, swim-in traps, or rocket netting. Madelynn also recently acquired the permits to start her own aviary of migratory birds, which allows her to photograph her birds and use them as references for her artwork. Some of you might know Franchi, her captive-reared wood duck drake, whose best friend is her boyfriend’s bird dog, Boone. Madelynn’s work, hobbies, faith in God, and love for the outdoors share many of the same parallels.
As a hunter and illustrator, Madelynn’s goal is to utilize her artwork as a way to inspire others and give back to waterfowl conservation efforts. She’s passionate not only about illustrating waterfowl, but also about protecting them for the enjoyment of generations to come - which is why she donates 10% of all proceeds from her artwork to the California Waterfowl Association.
