For my birthday last year, my husband surprised me with a black cockatoo encounter at Feathered Friends in Bargo. Birds I'd only ever watched high in the trees, or in photos, were suddenly sitting on my arm, landing on my head, and looking me straight in the eye.

I was ridiculously happy!

They're funny, curious, playful birds, and being that close to them felt almost impossible. There was no distance anymore. No looking up into the branches hoping for a glimpse. They were right there, choosing to be with me.

That feeling stayed with me when I painted Kyah. I kept coming back to her eye. I wanted her to look back. For that wild crest and those scattered gold flecks to carry some of the joy, mischief and character I'd seen up close.

And perhaps that's why the eye matters so much. Because once you've looked at one of these birds that closely, once you've seen how much someone is in there, it's much harder to hear how much trouble Australia's black cockatoos are in and let it remain just another fact.

You know exactly what we stand to lose.

Acrylic and oil on canvas · 76 × 92cm (30 × 36") · Original

Painted from a reference photograph by chameleonseye / Shutterstock.