Love them or hate them, the green parakeets which have colonised swathes of South West London are flourishing in lockdown.

Two people who definitely love them are local artists Sarita Keeler and Raph Thomas.

Sarita, who lives & works in Kingston is heavily influenced by the natural world.

She has spent a lot of time observing the parakeets and her new pieces are all about green!

Sarita said: "I work mainly with acrylics and my use of colours has been influenced from visiting places such as India, Mexico and Jamaica.

"Now like everyone else stuck in London, I am seeking to escape, and my way is by painting birds!

"I currently paint out of my home in Kingston , but wherever I find myself, painting is a source of calm; laying emotions of the moment onto canvas has always been my way of simplifying them.

Sarita has exhibited regularly with KAOS, the Kingston artists group, is part of the 1of1design Pop Up Gallery . Unable to show at the moment, you can buy her Richmond Park Parakeets by contacting her [email protected] . Originals on canvas start at £125.

Maybe you love parakeets and so does your partner ? You could do worse than order a bespoke Valentines print from Hampton Wick based artist Raph Thomas.

As he lives really close to Bushy Park, Raph started photographing the colourful if noisy birds. He then worked on some massive original canvases of the Bushy Park parakeets.

Although now sold, you can get prints of his work, starting at £45 framed. If you really need a wall of parakeets, contact him for a commission on [email protected] or visit his website HERE