Ria Winters

The Seychelles parakeet

Jan 30, 2011

Everyone knows the impressive Alexandrine parakeet that was named after Alexander the Great who introduced this bird to the nobles and kings of the Mediterranean and European countries. He exported it from South east Asia where it still lives and thrives. This was of course a forced exportation....

Java moustached or Red-breasted parakeet

Oct 10, 2010

A few weeks ago I visited a small natural history museum in the North of Holland.

Its interior was left the way it was designed some hundred years ago. Wooden displays with birds and animals from the colonial days. There was no geographical order in the exhibition; a tiger stood next to a kangaroo...

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos

Mar 28, 2010

This blog is about two species of white cockatoos: the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) and the Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea).

Both have the same colours so I was able to make the paintings with the same pallet, but the character and appearance of the birds are...

More Echo Parakeets

Oct 03, 2009

I'm still working on a series of Mauritius paintings and just finished this one of the Echo Parakeets. The problem with painting Echos is that they are all green and their natural surroundings are green as well. So it took me a while to think of a good way to portray them; it resulted in a mix of...