Parrot Musings

In April 2006, I was bidding on a budgie painting on ebay. The picture reminded me of a mixture between my late budgie Lenny and my current budgie Ethel. Unfortunately, between the time I placed my bid and the time the auction ended, Ethel had died. I was devastated, and hoped that I would be outbid. If I won the painting, I was going to donate it to the parrot rescue where I volunteer so they could sell it and make some money. It was going to be too hard to see this painting as it would always remind me of Ethel's death, given the timing.

And then I received the painting in the mail.

It took my breath away -- it was so beautiful -- and oddly, it made me happy instead of sad. I contacted the artist, Mary Hughes, to see if she'd be willing to do a commission painting of Ethel, and to my delight, she said yes! Here is Ethel:


Of course, I was hooked, and had to get portraits done of all of my birds! It sounds cliche, but the paintings are even more beautiful in person!

Max:


Calypso:


Daphne:


Rocky:


Beeps:


I am just blown away by Mary's talent, and feel so lucky to have found her! She is one of the nicest people I have ever known, and puts so much effort into making sure that each painting accurately represents the animal. I can see this very clearly in the two caique pictures. Looking at them, I don't have any question as to whether it's Beeps or Calypso -- she has captured their essence!

Thomas and I ordered paintings of all of my parents' birds, and of my sister's cat, as they make great gifts. We will have the lizards done once they have completed their molts so we know what they should look like.

The above paintings are all copyrighted by Mary, but she said that I could put them up on the blog -- thanks so much!

To see more examples of Mary's work, or if you would like to order a portrait of your own pet, visit her website. Here is the link to the custom pet portraits page. The process is so easy -- send her some pictures and answer whatever questions she has. Pretty soon, you have a wonderful keepsake!