Watercolour pencils on watercolour paper; 17.5x17.5cm

This picture is a tribute to my, now deceased, pet budgies Kiwi and Petrie. It's a bit sentimental and corny, I know, but I was 15 when I did it so that somewhat explains it. It was my second attempt at a budgie picture; my first being anatomically correct but a bit static. The budgies in the first one were simply perching, whereas the pair in this are doing typical budgie things (scratching and preening) and that brings a lot more character and life to this version.

The two don't interact, because in real life my budgies didn't get along! Kiwi, the female (the green one, naturally) was the clever, fiesty leader who would hog the food (which made her quite chubby), and Petrie was the horny, idiotic pretty boy. He was constantly pestering Kiwi, who would peck her consent, or, more likely, raise her foot in the air to ward him off (which, in a sense, is picked up in my picture, though she's raising the other foot to scratch her head).

Unfortunately when I went to cut the finished piece out the blade slid (I stupidly used a stanley life, which I was inexperienced with instead, of a pair of scissors) and so the edge of Kiwi's toe is missing in the picture. I should've thought ahead and orientated my piece of paper the other way so that I could fit in their tails. Also the scanner didn't do the soft colour transitions of their feathers; I tried toggling with the picture settings but little could improve it. Still, it stands as a reminder of how much I loved my pet budgies, and how I'll never forget their unique and quirky personalities.