Miniature Painting - No 22 - Brown Goose

Today's miniature painting is another domestic bird, a brown Chinese goose. According to Wikipedia:

The Chinese Goose is a breed of domesticated goose descended from the wild Swan Goose. Chinese geese differ from the wild birds in much larger size (up to 5–10 kg in males, 4–9 kg in females), and in having an often strongly developed basal knob on the upper side of the bill. The knob at the top of the beak is more prominent on males than females. By 6–8 weeks of age, the knob is already pronounced enough that it can be used for sexing. Chinese geese are a close cousin of the African goose, a heavier breed also descended from the Swan Goose.
Chinese geese appear in two varieties: a brown similar to the wild Swan Goose, and white. While many domestic Chinese geese have a similar body type to other breeds, the breed standards as defined in the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection and other sources call for a slimmer, taller fowl.
Chinese geese are among the better laying breeds of geese. A female Chinese goose can lay 50–60 eggs over the course of the breeding season (February to June), although there are reports of Chinese Geese laying up to 100 eggs during that time.

I've seen a lot of these on ponds and rivers around WA, hanging around wild ducks and Canada geese. I'm not sure if they are wild descendants of escaped domestic geese or domestic geese just out for a swim. They look as natural in the wild as they do on the farm so I decided to paint this one in a natural wild setting.

 5"x7" oil on Gessobord

Original: SOLD