Ron Jenkins was born on August 18, 1932 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and then was raised in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art throughout the academic year of 1954-1955, but increasing family responsibilities prompted him to drop his art education temporarily to go to work for a savings and loan association.

It was a job he was to hold for ten years, but in the meantime he began a correspondence course in art that ran from 1958 to 1962. He works fast, and although he will tackle any subject, birds are his favorite; his work on them goes especially fast.

In fact, he spent so little time, comparatively speaking, on the 1964 painting of canvasbacks that von the 1965-66 Federal Duck Stamp Comp...