This is a straight forward practice piece that one of my sisters made me do. I am reluctant ever to argue with them. When it was finished and presented to her the sniff was audible counties away.
The problem with the piece is it suffers from forced perspective. It has taken me years to correct. Please do not analyse it for proportion. The picture is an exercise in artistic licence. I think it is just about right. The head and neck are true to life but the wings are not even close to reality. The position of the head is why I like the piece. They make it look like the bird has flown into a pane of glass.
In order to pay the Inland Revenue my day job is that of a Surveyor. For those of you who have just said Oh! You are that David Phillips…Hello…How are you? I hope you are well…Anyway, as part of my day job I have to inspect buildings either to advise the client what it is worth or what is wrong with it. I was at one of these surveys and there was an odd mark on a window. For the life of me I could not work out what the mark represented and that bothered me. You get that a lot on surveys. Anyway after a lot of thinking and a headache, the stain suddenly became recognisable as an imprint of a duck right down to the bill, wings and tail. This process of recognition is known as gestalt. We all experience it. It is why we like optical illusions.
The image got me to thinking. First, good grief duck feathers are oily, then ouch! oh you poor duck that must have hurt and finally, oh for crying out loud! how can you not miss a house? You stupid bird.
