Blue Yellow Macaw by Charlie O'Shields
By Charlie

Blue Yellow Macaw

Written by Charlie O'Shields

 

This little doodlewash is for Draw A Bird day which is hosted by my friend and soul sister Laura at Create Art Everyday on the 8th of each month (try it today or join us next month!). This is my third bird that I’ve painted for this and the third bird I’ve ever painted as I’ve never tried doodlewashing birds before joining in on the fun! (You can see Bird One here and Bird Two here)

This is a blue and yellow macaw, and I primarily chose him because I noticed I was drawing too many brown things lately. Also, I’ve always loved parrots. There’s something sort of awesome about an animal that can mimic human speech and the blue and yellow macaw is one of the better talkers. Of course if you share a home with one you would really need to be careful what you say as they’re not good at keeping secrets.

I’ve always loved animals and particularly birds, and I once wanted to become a bird watcher. This wasn’t a constant passion, but something I became suddenly passionate about as a kid when I stumbled across a copy of Audubon Magazine. I was shocked that more people my age hadn’t thought to become a “birder” as it seemed like exciting and interesting work. It wasn’t long before I realized the sheer amount of sitting and waiting involved, which was also the reason why most of my peers were over the age of 60.

After sitting and staring at a tree for 30 minutes waiting for something to appear so I could identify it, I got bored and started carving a bird out of a stick instead. I’d just gotten one of those Swiss Army pocket knives and wanted to test it out. It was classic red and beyond its nice selection of knives and a pair of scissors there was even a spoon and fork! (For those occasions when you’re stranded and without food, but take comfort in knowing you could eat it properly if you weren’t about to starve to death instead).

My wooden stick bird was a disaster and looked more like a beaked snake that hadn’t finished shedding its skin. Just 45 minutes into this stupid adventure, I was ready to crawl out of mine. My dreams of birding had been crushed again by the deathly club of my attention deficit problems (kids weren’t medicated to “be made normal” back then, so I was left alone to grow up “naturally unique”).

With apparently no ability to actually find an interesting bird, much less carve it out of a stick, I was at a loss for how to start this new hobby. At the time I didn’t realize that birding was something that also involved travel in order to experience more variety. I had just assumed since birds could fly anywhere, once they knew I was watching for them, they would just fly over and say hello. No bird ever did. Not even a parrot, and they could have actually said it.

So today, I’ll happily merge my lost long, day long hobby with my new one and on the 8th of each month do a little birding in doodlewash. With just a little bit of ink and some paint, I can make any bird I like appear now! It may not get me honored by the Audubon Society as the world’s next great “bird nerd” but it will let me fulfill my childhood dreams of finally coming face to face with a bright blue and yellow macaw.

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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61 thoughts on “Blue Yellow Macaw”

  1. Great sketch and hilarious commentary. Stopping to carve a stick makes me laugh out loud. Plus, I learned something from your drawing. The gray lines behind the white and black really add to the perception of death. I feel like I may try to copy your Macaw.

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous macaw Charlie, the colours and the definition of the feathers are so perfectly vivid and beautiful.

    “Of course if you share a home with one you would really need to be careful what you say as they’re not good at keeping secrets.” – Hahaha! And how! I have an African Grey – fortunately she’s quite shy when there are people around, preferring to chunter away to herself in private, but even so, I take no chances when around her, especially after she swore at a guest. She sometimes does macaw impressions aptly enough, as she used to live next door to one. Very entertaining creatures, indeed!

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    1. Oh wow! That’s totally cool Jacob! Would come in handy if you ever had a guest you really wished you could speak you mind to and didn’t want to appear rude! 😉 So happy you like my macaw doodlewash! It was super fun to do! I might try another parrot in the future. Although I don’t really have any good parrot stories so I may have to buy one first. 😊

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      1. Hahaha! It was so funny, as I say she’s normally quiet as a mouse in front of people, but for some reason she just had the urge to drop the W-bomb… she’s looking at me right now; I think she knows we’re talking about her…

        Please do more parrots!

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  5. I’d begin to worry if you think your drawings can talk to you, out loud that is… My drawings always speak to me! LOL! 😊 VERY impressed with your Macaw, Charlie! And fun story as always! 🎨❤️😊🐥

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  8. Now that is a very distinguished bird!
    No child is naturally able to sit still for long. That’s why we had morning and afternoon recess! Which still seems just about right to me.

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      1. Don’t we all buddy?! And …. you are so stinkin’ impressive!! I had a bad painting day today – as you will see in a future post – I want to be great like you! HELP! 🙂

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  14. Beautiful Macaw :-). I love its bold, brilliant colors. And your story was very entertaining. The info centre at the bird sanctuary in Calgary has a glass case with many birds carved out of wood and painted. I’ve never tried to carve anything out of wood.

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  19. Beautiful doodlewash and I’m laughing about your early birding adventure. I have a friend who blogs about his ADHD, both the positives and negatives. I agree that today, all doctors want to do is medicate. My son has ADhD.. That’s how his doctor labels it with little “h”. I think medication helps but it’s hard to find doctors that will take the time to really diagnose you properly, who will explore different medication options.. Sorry,I get easily distracted. 😊

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