There was once a mother duck who hatched a waddle of cute, fuzzy yellow ducklings. There was one large grey duckling. All the ducks thought because this grey duckling was different that made him ugly.
The ugly duckling didn’t look, act, or think like all the other ducklings. When the yellow ducklings swam left, the ugly duckling went in circles. When they hid, he swam up all friendly.
The ugly duckling was starting to believe the ducks’ opinion that he was ugly and awkward. He was just so different!
One day the ugly duckling swam farther than normal and came to a new area. He saw some beautiful large white birds swimming. They were majestic! Then he noticed other large grey ducklings following one of the beautiful white birds.
He eagerly swam up to them and asked what they were. The beautiful white bird told him that they… and HE… were swans. He wasn’t an ugly duckling at all! He was a swan.
My family is full up of creative neurodivergent people. We have autism and ADHD with all the spicy life that brings. We embrace our weirdness, laughing a lot at ourselves.
But I was thinking about how isolated a neurodivergent child can feel in a more neurotypical group- like at school or in a less spicy family. I decided to represent that neurodivergent child as the ugly duckling- different than the rest who are all cute in the same way and all think the same way.
I have a corresponding piece called the Protector, listed separately.
Shipping is included in the listed price. It will be insured for its journey, shipped in a sturdy cardboard box, insured for its journey.
The Divergent One
Acrylics
on an upcycled 19x58 panel
From a disassembled piano