'This is one of my favorite bird paintings. I can still remember that misty morning on the Okavango like it was yesterday. I spent so much time up at Shakawe in Botswana getting bird material for paintings that I hoped to do that when I headed back to my studio in Durban I was brimming with ideas. Not all of those ideas worked out. And therein lies one of the great mysteries that an artist has to deal with - why don't all paintings turn out equally well? The answer is that they probably do but even an artist can have a personal preference. And that means deliberately and clinically not trashing paintings you might not be sure about. My savior here is my wife Clarissa. She is the one who keeps me calm and gives me an honest alternate opinion. She saved many a painting which through time I came to love. Like this painting!'