The mental image of ‘budgie smugglers’makesmeshudderalittle.Ifeellike budgies have been a little hard
done by here, so I wanted to createanillustrationthathelpedmefeellessdisturbed. I’m originally from the UK
and only heard the term after movingtoSydneytwoyearsago.Ilovetoswim,but am not a fan of the beach, so I’d
managed to avoid it ever coming up.WhenIfirststartedhearingit,I’djustnodknowingly like I totally understood,
while envisaging a lumpy, tweetingpackage.Forthisillustration,I’vedrawnagroup of budgies being smuggled
to freedom by two female characters.Ifelttheydeservedtobeliberated,andimagine it would feel amazing to
release an animal into the wild. (Thoughmaybelesssowhenthere’ssuchahigh risk of bird poo.) I love focusing
on intricate details and pattern withinmywork,soIreallyenjoyedpaintingthebeautiful patterns on the feathers.
Recently, I’ve gotten into poppypastelsandbubblegumcolours,too,soIloved playing around with those.
The least offensive fake slang I canthinkofis‘aslug’,akawhenyou’restuckbehind a person walking too slowly.
When a friend asked me to pass the‘snags’lastChristmas,Ifellaboutlaughing. I couldn’t guess what the heck
he meant. It’s pretty crazy feeling outsidealanguagethat’ssofamiliartoyou,but I’ve loved learning new things.
JESSICA MEYRICK
budgie smugglers
pretty pictures