A Pandemonium of Parrots

SORRY, folks, but I once again find myself hooked on to a theme, so brace yourselves for a series of paintings based on collective terms for animals and birds.

My interest was prompted by my earlier picture, A Conference of Rooks, which tried to capture the nature of Birdland's chattering classes.

Today, I turn to the rowdies, the undisciplined squabblers among our feathered friends. Who would have thought that a group of parrots is known as a 'pandemonium', a term devised to capture their raucous disagreements and their all-round delinquency.

Anyway, once my marker pen had swept the page a couple of times, this picture took shape. It's called A Pandemonium of Parrots and captures (I hope) a taste of their behavioural deficiencies.

There is something crudely primitive about this picture, yet it has a childish spontaneity and immediacy about it. 'All the best artists are children,' said Pablo Picasso. As my second childhood can't be too far off, can I count this among my late-life juvenilia? Thanks...appreciate it.

Stand by for A Gaggle of Geese, a Parliament of Owls and maybe even A Romp of Otters. Bet you can't wait...