Parrots in Love! Red and Blue Macaw Pair // Avairy Logo

I recently had the pleasure of painting more macaw parrots. This time a loved-up couple to be used as a new logo for the wonderful "Feathered Companions Avairy" in Delmar, Maryland. The aviary breeds many kinds of parrots, but the stars of the show are of course the big-hearted and beautiful macaws. 

It was great to work on the parrots' face detail this time, (my previous paintings are less detailed)

:: Process and Roughs...

There were many possibilities for the design, which I drew inspiration for from the aviary's own photos. Below are just some of my exploratory drawings...

...in flight and very happy:

...and a baby.

You can find previous posts with my macaws series from 2011 here:

Blue and Gold

Catablu

Scarlet 

Catalina

Military 

More Sketches

All images are (C) Amy Holliday 2014.
Please contact me first to seek permission before using. Thank you!

Catablu Macaw (Parrot number five)

(Another addition to the avairy!) This one was actually one of my first experiments in my sketchbook. Looking at it again, I think it might be worthy to post here...not happy with the paint but it has energy! Apparently a "catablu" is a "catalina" and "blue and gold" mix. I had no idea there were so many names given to all colour variations and breeds of macaw! I love them more than ever now!

Catalina Macaw (Parrot number four)

Military Macaw (Parrot number three)

A green "military" macaw this time, not sure if I like this one as much as the others so far.

Sketchbook Pages: Parrots and Geese

Everything has pretty much stopped in the past couple of weeks for me...I've been physically unable to do pretty much anything at all since I sprained my knee (which stopped me from standing for long) and then somehow managed to hurt a muscle/nerve in my lower back (which has stopped me from sitting and laying down properly!) The funny thing is I have no idea how either of them happened! 

I have however, managed to set up a Facebook page...so if you are a frequent user of the book of face, feel free to "like" me to follow my updates there https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Holliday-Illustration#!/pages/Amy-Holliday-Illustration/330635163618041

Anyway, here's a few studies I've collected together from some recent scribblings...it surprises me how loose my drawings have become...

Blue and Gold Macaw (Parrot number two)

I actually coloured the rest of my parrot drawings straight in my sketchbook, but they kind of lacked the...sparkle...the first one had, so I'm now transferring them all onto watercolour paper, like the first, before re-painting them. I have finally learned the value of decent paper!

Wild Scarlet Macaw Appeared!

The first to be completed in my series of macaws. I had a bit of a paper experiment with this one and actually printed the drawing onto better quality paper before painting it. Let me know what you think! More macaws to come soon!

Owls and Parrots Sketches!

  Some of my new drawings that I hope to turn into two new bird series!