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Hello,
my name is Tom Bailey and I helped Lisa Byrd with the
development of her web site. I
would like to say that the opportunity to work with
such an aspiring and talented artist has truly been
a pleasure and an enlightening experience for me.
I've
also enjoyed building this site because I am a collector
of decoys, having a personal collection which spans
30+ years and includes the works of several carvers.
A
few weeks ago I traded a piece of framed artwork with
a close friend of mine in exchange for this unusual
looking wood decoy, wanting it mostly due to the fact
that I couldn't name the species upon first glance,
and that it had a very striking pose.
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I
sent Lisa these photos and asked her opinion of
what kind of duck this could possibly be, considering
its short beak and notable plumage behind its
head.
Together
we made several suggestions, finally deciding
that this was clearly an alien duck and appropriately
named it: "What's It".
After
searching the Internet for several hours, I
came upon a Mandarin duck, which are native
to Northeast China and Japan. The resemblence
was so close, I thought this had to be it.
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I
then emailed the two photos below to Lisa asking her
thoughts and she concurred. Although the original finish
on my alien duck above more closely resembled that of
a Common Loon, I thought this duck would look much better
in a Mandarin finish and proposed a trade of services,
to which she agreed.
Working
with nothing more than the photos above, Lisa was able
to transform my 'what's it' duck into a charming and
majestic looking Mandarin drake. As you can see below,
the transformation was just awesome, for lack of a better
term.
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As
if her magnificent artistry skills weren't enough,
she also reworked the bill area, adding extra
wood, as well as handcarving the individual wings
and inserting those.
She
then added the glass eyes, and applied a multi-color
finish that exceeds anything I've ever seen, from
any artist, ever.
As
you can imagine, I was just STUNNED when I saw
the results and in comparing the before and after
photos, I felt compelled to share my personal
experience with you. Lisa,
I can't thank you enough!
~Tom
Bailey, Webmaster
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