Children of Thailand II – girl, was the second of a pair of paintings Christine did as a commercial venture. Cultural sensitivities were different back in the fifties and sixties and our reactions to showing half-naked young girls from a different culture have changed.

The budgerigar is a portrait of the pet budgie of our family, called “Saki” after the pale yellow Japanese rice wine. Below is a sketch of the bird with details about its coloration.

I’m not exactly sure what became of this painting but I believe it was sold, along with its pair, the boy, to the big department store in downtown Bournemouth.

Working Sketches

Below is a single full size sketch that I came across and a detailed view of the budgie torn from a notebook. Note how Christine has recorded some of the time put into the painting. I think this was before she became more organized and started to use diaries.