SKETCHES FROM OUR GUESTS

One of our guests recently emailed me to ask if I could send her a copy of a sketch she did several years ago during a stay at the Duck Inn. While I was looking for it, I realized that there are dozens of sketches in our Guest Books and thought a few of them might make an interesting post.

Some of you know that we have had our share of dealings with Canada’s National Animal, The Beaver! A few years ago, a family tried to take up residence in the barge on which our house floats. After a season of unsuccessful attempts to scare them away, we finally hired an Australian diver and his team to go underwater and sheath the barge in stainless steel mesh. Now they cannot get in, and when we see them swimming by trailing building materials, we know that they are exploring other places to stay. Luckily, they are not able to invade the Duck Inn as they can’t reach it! 

 A guest who had been here several times and heard all the 
beaver tales left this whimsical pencil sketch for us.

Many people have sketched the river….we supply pastels, crayons, pencils and paints with the sketch books, so the books contain quite a variety. 
Here are a few.

Ducks, of course, are always fair game for sketches by kids and adults too.

 
This heron was captured too

 Bits of Whimsy

A Few Flowers

 A Pencil Sketch of the Ramp Garden

And a WEDDING

Sometimes guests leave sketches on our Welcome Boards....usually we don't get a chance to capture them before they're erased...but Cora caught this Fall 2015 one!

BEDARD DUCKS

Many guests have chuckled over our collection of Michael Bedard’s Duck Prints.

We had never heard of them until Jill found several framed ones at a Garage Sale a few years ago. 
The woman selling them was “no longer into ducks”, but at the Duck Inn, we seem to have signed on to "ducks forever"!
    Without thinking about where she was going to hang them, Jill said,”I’ll take them all!”

 Our favourite is probably “Ship of Fools”, 

which we hung in the walkway as a reminder to guests taking out the canoes….and also so that everyone can see it.

           

            Much to Allen’s surprise, the others found                    perfect roosts in the cottages.

THREE ARE IN THE WATER GARDEN

SITTING DUCK

PRODUCTION

WINDOW SHOPPING

TWO ARE IN WILLOW COTTAGE

THE CROSSING

GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL

AND THE LAST TWO ARE IN 

THE RIVER ROOST CHILDREN'S ROOM

 FIRST DUCKS ON MARS

LIVING TOGETHER

Missing from our collection is this duck....we would snap it up and hang it in one of the bathrooms if we found it!

NOTE FROM JILL:

When I was researching Michael Bedard for this post, 

I discovered that many of these prints, plus several others, 

were originally created for his book, "Sitting Ducks".

It's available from amazon, so I ordered some copies....

one for each Duck Inn bedroom....plus a spare!

And for those who want to know more about Michael Bedard, here's a link to his website:

www.mbedard.com/Scripts/mBedard.asp