How can you beat a crest like that? Charlie looks like he’s dressed for a party and already knows he’s the centre of attention.

On our trip from Uluru and Alice Springs up to Darwin, I desperately hoped to see Pink Cockatoos in the wild. Like Eddie the Emu, they remained frustratingly elusive. Maybe that made me want to paint one even more.

Pink Cockatoos mate for life, and pairs return to the same tree hollows year after year to raise their young. Some can live for decades. There’s something incredibly moving about that kind of attachment to each other and to a place — especially when those places are disappearing. They live across the vast, open landscapes of inland Australia, yet they need far more space than you might imagine to successfully breed.

Just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re doing fine. Sometimes the wildlife furthest from view needs us to pay attention most.

Acrylic and oil on canvas · 20 × 25 cm (8 × 10") · Original

Painted from a reference photograph by Eric Isselee / Shutterstock.