Budgerigars, and why doing a candy themed piece was a challenge

Hello boys and girls, hope you're all having a good week so far!

I thought this post I would share with you some things that inspired me recently, to give an idea where I get the ideas from for my work.  As some of you may know, the deadline for the newest issue of Ballad Of was earlier this month, the theme being 'Candypop': i.e., pink, turquoise and sherbet, sweeties, My Little Ponies...!  The project sounded like too much fun to miss out on - the research alone regressed me back to my childhood years, helplessly drooling over anything pink, glittery and plastic.

And yet, the brief also presented a bit of a challenge - the theme 'Candypop' has inherently synthetic associations and up until now, virtually all of my work has been inspired by the natural world.  The subject matter and therefore colour scheme of my work has always been based on a plant or animal of some kind, and while I do use bright /contrasting colours they don't really have that sherbety, acidic quality that suggests 'Candypop' to me.  So for a while, I struggled to think of a subject that would be suitable for the theme and yet not completely at odds with my existing work.  That is, until I took a trip to visit family in Northwest London, and spotted these little chaps in Pinner Memorial Park!

Cute little budgerigars... with lovely acid, bright, sherbet colours!  I had finally found my inspiration for the project!  Add in some seaside sweetie stall fun, and a final piece was all ready and raring to go.  Unfortunately I won't be able to share that with you until I get the final yay or nay about whether the piece is going in the issue - but here's a couple of little tasters to whet your appetite.

I'm really rather proud of this piece... I can't wait until later in the year when I can share the whole thing with you!  And those wee budgies are SO cute.

Thank you very much for reading, hope to see you next time!

Emma x