Cockatoo Drawing

He isn’t typically associated with botanical-style prints. He is primarily known for his nonsense poems and caricatures. But, Edward Lear (1812-1888) left behind a wonderful collection of landscape paintings and a beautiful book of parrot prints. It was the sort of book we would call a coffee table book today.

The scan of this particular bird drawing wasn’t very clear. In fact, the background was pixelated and a bit messy. I started playing around with the features in a new graphics program I purchased from the Apple Store and suddenly a plain, boring bird drawing became big-time drama of beige, black and red.

This salmon-crested cockatoo drawing dates back to 1832. These rare birds are no longer allowed to be imported into the United States but they are being successfully bred in captivity. They are native to Indonesia. They are known as highly socialable and friendly birds. They are commonly used at theme parks and other places that have trained bird shows.

These beautiful birds have primarily creme colored feathers but it is their crest that gives them their name. The salmon-colored feathers in their crest are often a bit of a shock you see one of these beautiful birds raise theirs.