Ripple

Canada Goose Art

The first and last in a series of Canada Goose Art

This drawing is a prime example of how artists go bananas.

For YEARS, I’d been getting asked “Owen, when are you going to do a Canada Goose?”, and “Do you have any Canada goose art”, and “I’d buy a goose if you had one”.

So, like a chump, I did a Canada Goose.

I bought an expensive camera and spent days driving around the countryside looking for geese. The Colonel asked me where I was taking pictures of geese, and I said that I hadn’t had much luck so far.

“I thought you were just down at Wascana Park!  Why are you wasting time driving around the country when there’s a permanent, year-round population of geese 5 minutes from home?!” she asked.

“Um, yes.  That’d make more sense…” I said.

So I popped down and threw so much bread at the geese in Wascana Park that it soaked up half the lake; I’m not even sure that a couple of goslings didn’t imprint me as Mom. I must’ve taken 500 photos, and as this was in the days when one still had to develop film, it ran to some money.

Then came the drawing. I sweated, toiled, and drew my fingers to the bone.

The Big Time

On a long shot, I entered it in the Largest Wildlife Art Show in Western Canada, and when it got accepted, I nearly fell over.

And imagine my surprise as it won ‘First in Class’ AND ‘First in Division in the Open (Professional) categories! 

Huzzah!  I swanned around the reception demurely accepting congratulations and free drinks as I cooed condolences and gave patronizing advice to the also-rans. Soon I was suavely posing for photos with my art and ribbons and giving hiccupy interviews and generally becoming insufferable until The Colonel had enough and dragged me out by my ear.

Seeing as the drawing had a terrific pedigree, I got it published as soon as I could. I spent a fortune on prints, certificates of authenticity, brochures, greeting cards, and put out a special edition of the catalog – despite still having boxes of the previous one in the garage.

And…this is my worst selling print ever – and that says something.  I can’t even give it away to relatives.

So when you ask me, “Owen when are you going to draw a (fill in the blank)?’ and I give a polite, diplomatic, non-answer, you’ll know why…

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