I love Australia's diverse and vivid birdlife, including all the tiny finches and wrens that flit around in the early morning sun. I photographed this red-browed wren as it perched momentarily in the spindly weeds by a creek outside Bangalow. I loved its fragility, juxtaposed against its confident gaze. I transformed it into an encaustic painting by burning layers of hot beeswax mixed with oils, inks and pastels onto hardwood panels, then scraped it back and etched it with metal tools and let the wax harden.

The finished piece is museum grade and prepped with picture hardware, ready to hang as a triptych.