MR AND MRS KING PARROT OF MITTAGONG

BY ROSALIE

the artist

I was inspired to compose a picture of the male and female King Parrots together from two separate photographs Beverley took of them feasting in the same  tree. ​

The male has a mouthful of berries and the female seems to be eyeing her next tasty meal. The sexual dimorphism (colour difference) in these parrots is striking and adds to the interest. 

In fact to me the female is very brightly coloured but not as vibrant as the red of the male, but in mixing paints to match their colour I had to look for a more garish combination even for the green of the male, his wings being a blue green with a light stripe of turquoise on the back of the wing, seen best in flight but here most of it was covered by the feathers of the wings being pulled in while he fed. The female is much more leaf green giving her a better disguise even with her red chest. 

I hope I’ve showcased that difference in the picture, but if you see the female alone she is very striking - to me anyway. I painted parts of the tree they are feeding on but wanted to focus on the portraits rather than the leaves and berries,

​I deliberately didn’t paint a “perch”. In fact they clasp groups of stems of the tree as they balance to feed. After some time mixing colours to get a good approximation to what I saw as most like King Parrots in nature, and working out the leaf colours, 

​I started the painting with the leaves and berries, then moving on to eyes and beaks; if the eye is not right the painting won’t be…… I then moved on to the female then the male. It is always interesting to see the progress of the painting, you never know how it will turn out. ​