We were in Tasmania when we spotted an echidna waddling along the side of the road. We pulled the car over just to watch him, completely absorbed in that determined little walk as he went about his business.

Then we came home and I started seeing them everywhere around Batemans Bay, where we spend lots of weekends with Mum. Funny how once an animal captures your attention, you suddenly notice it all around you.

Echidnas are wonderfully strange — egg-laying mammals with no teeth or nipples, sticky tongues, spines that are actually modified hairs and babies called puggles. What's not to love?

With Spike, though, I wanted all those spines to lead you somewhere else — straight to those bright little eyes and that wonderful nose.

All those spikes, and somehow it's that little face that gets you.

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

Painted from a reference photograph by Shutterstock.