With a Quack Quack Here and a Quack Quack There...

A few years ago we were in Boston for one day.  You'd think that I would have looked for a hotel near the airport, but no.  I wanted a hotel near the Public Garden because there was really only one thing in Boston that I wanted to see.

Just a short walk across the park, and there she was...
Mrs. Mallard with her little ones:
Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack!

Happy, happy Helen!

And there was even a real Mr. & Mrs. Mallard with babies!

A book just as sweet today as it was when it was written in 1941.

Big Mrs. Mallard followed by her 8 littles.

I painted this one in response to my weekly-ish art challenge which was "Big & Little" this time. 

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 24" Wrapped Canvas

Click "With a Quack Quack Here..." if you'd like to purchase this painting.

Mallards

Have you ever had a wild pet?

When I was a kid we had a lake on our farm.  (You can see a view of it in Lake at Nunnely)  One year a pair of mallards made their home there.  We named them Patsy and Bill.

This couple was part of a community of ducks that live on the river behind the Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  They're used to tourists and completely ignored me as I snapped their pictures.

It just doesn't seem fair that the the daddy duck gets to be so beautiful; however, I think the mama is lovely in her own way. 

Original Oil Painting on 6" x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Jansen Park

I saw this little bridge in the park every week as I was growing up. It was a sort of boundary, "Don't go past the bridge!" I never noticed how lovely it was until going back years later.

I thought that would be the end of the story for this painting. But after it was finished, my niece saw it and said, "That's Duck!" One year her husband brought her a little duckling for Easter. Duck became fast friends with their poodle, but after a while Duck needed a better home. They got permission to move him to the park. (He's the white one in the painting.)

Original Oil Painting on 16"x 20" on Canvas Board, Framed.

[SOLD]