This painting was created after one of my stays in the Kahurangi National Park. I was flown in by helicopter to join a group of volunteers searching for New Zealand's giant land snail — the rare Powelliphanta.
For five days we crawled on all fours through marked-out plots, searching centimetre by centimetre for this endemic, endangered, carnivorous mollusc, documenting even the smallest fragments of broken shells.
The result was sobering.
And yet, I deeply cherished those days. Never before had I been so physically close to the forest. Moss beneath my hands, leaves parting as I moved, the careful lifting of branches and twigs. Again and again, I would pause, breathe deeply, and take in the fullness of the moment.
This painting won the people's choice award in the Tasmanian National Art Awards.