Vonnegut & Oranges (fine art print)

ABOUT THE ORIGINAL PAINTING:

"Vonnegut and oranges" is a portrait of one very special parrot, my pet parrot, Vonnegut. It was he who helped me to "see" birds, I mean really see them for who they are, their complex personalities and immense capacity for emotional connection. And it seems, he's captured the hearts of many others as well (with over 400,000+ combined followers on social media).

Vonnegut is an Indian Ringneck, Psittacula krameri, a common household pet in Australia, worth nothing more than $100-150. Yet this "cheap parrot" has completely transformed my life (also my schedule!) and my admiration for birds. Before Vonnegut, I dare say I underestimated birds' emotional, physical and intellectual capacities. But not anymore!

Vonnegut can understand the different inflections of my voice, show empathy when I am sad and even talk back to me with a teenager-like cry-of-complaint when I tell him to do something he doesn't want to do. His sense of humor is immense.  Like the day he showed Schiele, our second parrot, all the places to land in our house (which were in fact all of the places he's not allowed to land). Vonnegut is very obedient and once taught, never landed on said perches. But on this one day, he set himself the task of showing Schiele, our newly acquired parrot, every single no-no perch in the house. He thought it was great fun!. And of course, there's that one time I yelled at him for chewing up an artwork and he immediately flew up onto a shelf, his beak resting against the wall and his head bowed in guilt. He stayed in that position for a good 2 minutes before I apologised (of course I never scolded him again, knowing just how much he took it to heart). Perhaps that's anthropomorphising but perhaps that's just a really, really intelligent, socially complex bird defying our common-held beliefs. 

Vonnegut is the reason I paint birds. Living with him in the house (along with Schiele) is the reason I paint birds in domestic settings (like these home-grown oranges, freshly picked on the morning I painted this). Because if I could share my experience, it's that getting to know birds, getting to know their personalities and their complex emotions, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I believe that we as a species should be placing far greater value on birds than we currently do. 

GICLEE PRINT DETAILS:

Prints of this artwork are limited edition to 100, hand signed and numbered by Anne Smerdon.

Note: Printed image size is slightly smaller than paper size. Each printed image has a 1cm bleed (for ease of framing) and additional blank paper at the bottom (for signing and numbering).

SHIPPING:

Fine art prints are printed to order, so please allow 4 weeks for your print to arrive. Your print will be delivered rolled in a secure mailing tube with tracked postage.