Parrot Palooza!

So, back in September I was fortunate enough to attend a local Parrot Palooza as a vendor. It was a wild time and I even met local celebirdies, such as Max the Moluccan.

Originally the show was supposed to be in a community hall, but they switched it to the new VCA vet hospital down the road from us. Somehow I didn't factor in that I would be in a room of screaming parrots for seven hours. It was like "SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SIREN SCREAM I love you SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM BARK BARK hello", but once people arrived, talking balanced out the noise. All the parrots there were club member parrots--no outside birds allowed. There were so many! Cockatiels, conures of all kinds, cockatoos, one blue and gold macaw, an African grey, a few caiques, several different types of Amazons, a parrotlet, two Quakers, and a grey parrot who someone told me the name of, but that I didn't recognize. I'm so happy with how the portraits of Birdzilla and Yoshi turned out.

A Great Way to End 2022!

I'm thrilled to share my short story, "A Foot in Two Worlds", was accepted into this anthology :-) My dad came to Canada in 1960 and navigating two cultures has always been a part of my life.

Immigrant Sci-Fi | Successful Submissions & Selected Stories - We’re pleased to announce the authors included in our upcoming anthology which combines the new & contemporary, set in future, interstellar, fantastical and alternative realities.https://t.co/kOMCbRjkWc

— Flame Tree Press Team (@flametreepress) December 14, 2022

Tony! Tony! Tony!

For years now I've done pet portraits at the local comic expo, but COVID has put the kibosh on that. I was able to attend a parrot show called Parrot Palooza at the end of September though and here's one of the subjects, a French bulldog named Tony.

I found it very hard to cartoon Tony and it actually took two tries. Click through for larger.



His human also ordered a realistic portrait which was done on pastel paper with assorted pastels. I loved how this one turned out!