Amanda Rosychuk draws her artistic inspiration from a duck.
Literally.
Since receiving a CLBC-BCGEU Scholarship last fall to study art, the 22-year-old’s model has been a female duck she has named Junior Whiteneck.
What’s it like having a duck for a model?
“She comes and goes as she pleases and is not shy to announce her arrival.”
Hatched from an incubator, the duck lives in the waterway behind Amanda’s house and has nested in the family’s patio planter for the past seven years. Amanda looks forward to springtime, when she can cuddle with her ducklings.
Besides Junior Whiteneck, Amanda sketches cats and humans.
The art classes were her introduction to painting.
She has just completed her second canvas under the careful eye of award-winning Ladner artist Linda Jones. Jones’s acrylics, mixed media and encaustics (paint pigment mixed with hot wax) are sold through art galleries in Whistler and Victoria and marketed worldwide.
Amanda is “very, very appreciative” of the scholarship, her mother Janice reveals.
Although her daughter took some art in high school, the classes are more individualized.
“We never knew how artistic she was,” Janice says. “It’s a real confidence builder for her.”
Amanda, whose friendly personality has led to volunteer work stocking shelves at a thrift store and work experience in the cosmetics section of a drug store, agrees.
She says the classes, which she shares with three other artists, are relaxing .
Of the opportunity to study with Linda, “I’m grateful.”
And she encourages other CLBC-funded individuals to apply.
“Go ahead and do it, because it’s worth it.”
