The crest does the work
Cockatiels signal mood through crest position: fully erect when alert, swept back when relaxed or threatened, slightly raised when curious. We read the crest angle from your photo and holds it. A flat-crested calm bird and a fully-raised alert bird produce visibly different portraits — both yours, neither replaced by a stock pose.
Cheek patch, wing bar, mutation
Three details that mark the breed: the round orange cheek patch (brighter on males, muted on females and juveniles), the white wing bar along the leading edge, and the specific mutation — wild-type gray, pied, cinnamon, lutino yellow, pearl. We distinguish which color form your bird is rather than averaging to gray, and renders the cheek patch at its photographed intensity.
Smaller formats land better
Cockatiels are small birds and read most naturally in smaller formats — a 30×40cm Watercolor or a Cherry Blossoms wall ornament holds the scale right. Garden palettes flatter the soft gray and yellow; Art Nouveau lines suit the crest's vertical motion. Larger anchor-piece formats can work but the bird stops feeling like a Cockatiel and starts feeling like decor.