I have had guinea pigs for about fifty years. When did I get my first guinea pig? I honestly have no idea. I cannot remember when it happened, who gave it to me, or even how old I was. But I do remember his name.

At Handmade Luxury Home, we’re absolutely dotty about pets!

Did you know that because the mandarin drake (male duck) wears such bright, extravagant plumage, he isn’t allowed near the nesting female? She handles the entire nesting and child-rearing process alone—from incubating the eggs to ensuring her ducklings’ first leap into the world.

Have you ever seen the YouTube videos or David Attenborough’s footage of a female mandarin duck calling her ducklings from a tree cavity? One by one, these tiny, fluffy balls of joy hurl themselves into the unknown—bouncing a few times on the ground before scrambling up to follow their mother.

Let us talk about buying or commissioning a mandarin duck painting. I always accept mandarin duck commissions because working on a painting showing mandarin ducks is a delight. I like customers to be as specific as they like to be. How would you prefer your mandarin ducks?Should the ducks be side-to-side, drake or duck taking front stage? Are they swimming or resting, do you need a background of a lotus pond, a bamboo pond, a forest? Mountains in the back, overflying birds? Should the mandarin ducks be regular, that is colourful, or should they be white? Should the lotus flower be pink, or white? Shall I draw a decorative border be gold, blue or green? Or perhaps this is all too much and you just like to order mandarin ducks and you allow me to surprise you? 

Their dazzling, colourful plumage fades into a muted, understated tone—a natural disguise for survival. In fact, they look like their females to blend in with their winter environment. In the bleak, grey winter landscape, their bright suits would make them easy targets. This phenomenon, called the eclipse, leaves the drake looking so much like the female that you’d need a close look to tell them apart.

I studied bird anatomy and read ‘The Dictionary of Angels' by Gustav Davidson, to broaden my understanding of why and how angel wings have inspired artists throughout the history of art.

Ever since corona and ordering from home, delivery services shouldn’t be bothered with taking the elevator to deliver at our door. I kindly offer to put boxes in our elevator and I will call the elevator up to our floor. By now, this ritual has become a routine.