Today is my son Robin’s birthday so I painted this cheery parrot to print on a birthday card for him. I brought the card to his party tonight at Pier 23 in San Francisco, a waterfront “roadhouse pub” where we celebrated on their back deck right on the bay. It got pretty cold out there after the sun went down but their steamed mussels and clams were warm and delicious.
I originally downloaded the photo from MorgueFile.com (a great site for finding copyright-free images) when a student asked for a demo of bird painting and we did some planning for the painting.
Drawing the bird was fun and interesting. I’d never looked that closely at a parrot (or any bird) before and made so many discoveries, from his long, segmented “fingers” to his funny tongue and the varied shapes and colors of his feathers.
I have a friend with an Amazon parrot and I think it’s time for a visit and some sketching in person!
Jana Bouc, Artist 