Carl Brenders MANDARIN DRAKE, Duck, art print, ARTIST PROOF A/P#8/76

MANDARIN DRAKE A/P#8/76 (Limited Edition Print)(SOLD OUT from the publisher) by: Carl Brenders Image Size: 14½"h" x 20"w Published: 2004Issue Price: $150. Edition size: 76 This is print: Artist Proof A/P#8/76 This limited edition print is signed and numbered by the artist and GUARANTEED to arrive in MINT condition. Carl Brenders is one of the finest wildlife artists in the world. We are offering this print in the original folder, never framed, with certificate of authenticity We will gladly ship to you insured UPS for $19. in the contiguous US.International orders will ship carefully tubed.By bidding, foreign residents also acknowledge that they are aware of and agree to pay all taxes and related charges. CARL BRENDERS Carl Brenders’ love for all creatures, from the friendly to the ferocious, is evident in his masterful attention to their every detail; nothing is overlooked. With his imagination, Brenders is able to get close enough to wild animals so that he can almost feel their textures. Consequently, his work has a tactile reality, giving us the sense of having been where even the most intrepid of field guides have not ventured. Of this ability Brenders says, "A painter is a privileged being, because in his imagination he can come very close to the animals he paints. In reality, one can never come this close to wild animals, particularly if they are predators." Brenders' insistence on anatomical perfection in his paintings stems from his philosophy that nature, itself, is perfection: “That is why I paint the way I do with so much detail and so much realism — I want to capture that perfection," he says. MANDARIN DRAKE A/P#8/76 If there is one creature in the waterfowl world that is very surprising in color and form, it surely is the mandarin drake. Three duck species have always been very attractive to me: the wood duck, the harlequin duck and the mandarin duck. The last one, although, is the most gorgeous and spectacular. One could wonder what’s the need to have those curious, outstanding orange-gold “sails” that extend up along its flanks. (Mother Nature gives certain creatures strange forms and colors that certainly play a role in the mating game. (Think about the tail of the male peacock.) Originally a native of China and Japan, this oriental beauty is widely kept on ornamental ponds worldwide. The mandarin’s pair bonds are strong, and pairs of caged mandarin ducks were formerly given as gifts at Chinese weddings as symbols of marital fidelity. Mandarins are essentially cavity nesters (just as the American wood duck), but will also nest on the ground sometimes. Ducks are not always in the water, and mandarins, which are most active mainly in the pre-dawn and twilight hours, rest on the bank during the day, only in places where no predators can bother them. This is what you see in my painting. The acorns and few dead leaves on the ground are important elements in the composition and an alternation of texture and color.— Carl Brenders AUTHORIZED GREENWICH WORKSHOP DEALER CONSERVATION DESIGN, INC 14 VALLEY ST. DUXBURY, MA 02332