Chester & Crystal

Pencil on Paper

These two paintings are of my budgerigars, Chester and Crystal. They were with me for years, and though they’re gone now, painting them gives me a way to hold on to their presence. I chose pencils for their texture, letting the colors flow gently into one another — not as strict detail, but as a memory of movement and light. By leaving the background clear, all the focus rests on their small, watchful forms. Each of them had a different gaze — one steady, the other more curious — and together they remind me of quiet moments that feel both fleeting and permanent.