Lillian Grace Paca, The Trio, Scaup Ducks, Signed and Inscribed Waterfowl Painting

The Piece

Three scaup ride a quiet stretch of green water, two drakes in crisp black, white and grey and a warm brown hen in front, each sitting low in its own ring of ripples. The water is laid in soft, cool greens, so the birds glow against it, and every head is turned a little differently: one alert, one resting, one watching you. It is a small, steady portrait of waterfowl by a painter who spent her later life drawing the birds of the Pacific coast, signed Lillian Grace Paca at the lower left and set in a carved, gilded frame.

History & Provenance

Lillian Grace Paca (1883–1978) was born Lillian Grace Barrington-Baker in Kingston, Jamaica. She trained as a portrait painter in Europe and in London under Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, exhibited with the Ipswich Fine Art Club before the First World War, and served with British Intelligence during the war. After marrying the American Edward Tilghman Paca in 1920 she came to the United States, and from the 1940s she lived on the Monterey Peninsula, where she became one of the best known bird artists of the West. She wrote and illustrated Sea Lions and Seals of California (1947), Introduction to Western Birds (1953), Sea Gulls and Such (1961), The Royal Birds (1963), her book on waterfowl, and California Sea Otters (1967). The Smithsonian asked for her bird drawings in the late 1950s, and her original drawings for the books are preserved in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

This painting left her hands as a gift. On the backing board she titled it in pencil, “The Trio” Scaup Ducks, by Lillian Grace Paca, and above that, in ink, dedicated it to Jack and Ardath Burress in appreciation, signing again with her full name. A title, a dedication and a signature on the front, all in the artist's own hand, make this a personal and well documented piece of California natural history art. The full record is on our Lillian Grace Paca artist page.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

A trio of ducks is a natural fit for a study, a lodge room, a library or a coastal house, and this one carries a story worth telling: a painting given by the artist to friends, with her thanks written on the back. It is calm, finely observed and just the right size for a narrow wall, a bookcase niche or a grouping with other natural history pieces.

To care for it, keep it out of direct sun and away from fireplaces, heating vents and humid rooms. Dust the frame lightly with a soft, dry brush, and leave any cleaning of the painted surface to a conservator.