A koala can sleep for most of the day, curled into the fork of a eucalypt, completely dependent on the trees around her. The trouble begins when she wakes up and those trees are gone.

Not far from me in Appin, development continues to push into koala habitat. Fences have been built to protect them from the road, along with an under-road crossing intended to give them safe passage. There are signs telling us to watch out for koalas. But I keep coming back to the same question: where are they supposed to go?

That was in my mind when I painted Bonnie. I wanted her exactly where a koala should be — settled into her tree, sleepy, soft and completely unconcerned with us. There's a particular pain in painting that sense of safety when you know how easily we can take it away.

I think that's why Bonnie feels so peaceful to me.

She's asleep in her tree. I just want it to still be there when she wakes up.

Acrylic and oil on canvas · 20 × 20cm (8 × 8") · Original

Painted from a reference photograph by Andras Deak / Shutterstock.