Oil on museum quality ampersand gessobord panel 6" x 6"I've been painting a lot of fur lately so I thought I'd have a go at some feathers for a change. My friend Deb gave me a very faded photo of her long departed yellow nape Amazon parrot Vezzie a while back to see what I could do with it. It was one of those old Polaroid photos which had faded and color shifted. After some internet research, I think (at least I hope) I came close to her original coloration. I really liked the contrast of the greens and the reds. Why Vezzie you ask? According to Deb - "She was named after a heroine in a Victorian novel by Trollope. That character had broken her hip and walked with a limp. She was so vain that she refused to walk in public after that and was carried everywhere in a sedan chair, Of course, pet parrots don't walk or fly - they're carried everywhere. And, pet parrots can be incredibly vain - my beautiful Vezzie certainly was. So, that's where her name came from. She was also wicked smart. She could break out of her cage, in-spite of the fact that it takes several actions taken at the same time to get the cage open. She was a really good talker and could imitate me perfectly. She was my special bud."
