Dear Fellow Wildlife Lover

Just recently Rainforest Glow has been recognised in another international competition — I think it might be one of the best paintings I have ever made and as it has won multiple awards now, I feel that this is confirmation.  So, this month I'd like to tell you the story behind it.

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Kookaburras are a part of my daily life in a way that most of the animals I paint are not
They sit in the trees just outside my studio window.  I just say hello when I see them and, on many occasions, reach for my camera to take photos for future paintings.

These particular two were sitting in my Jacaranda tree one spring day, early in the season when the tree was just waking up from its winter sleep. No leaves yet, only the faintest hint of buds beginning to form. The Jacaranda in full flower is one of the most spectacular and recognisable trees I know — but at this moment it was bare and skeletal. And honestly, beautiful in its own way. The bare branches, it turned out, made the perfect vantage point. The kookaburras sat there like sentinels, watching the grass below for movement. And the light coming through behind them — that warm, golden backlight — was extraordinary. I knew immediately I had something.

I photographed them for a long time that afternoon.

Then I didn't use those photographs for a year and a half. That sounds like a long time, and it was. I had other paintings to finish, other ideas that felt more urgent. The kookaburra photos sat in my reference library, waiting. I kept coming back to them, looking at them, thinking about what I wanted to do — and not quite knowing yet.
The thing I was wrestling with was the setting. The Jacaranda in winter is a lovely backdrop, but the bare, dry Vacy countryside felt too plain for what I wanted to paint. I wanted warmth. I wanted lushness. I wanted those birds to feel alive in a way that matched the energy I saw in them that afternoon.

So I made a decision I love making: I invented the scene.

One of my favourite places on earth is Barrington Tops National Park — ancient rainforest up in the New South Wales ranges, misty and green and entirely unlike the dry bushland around my studio. I've visited many times and always return home inspired to create.

I decided to give my kookaburras a rainforest setting. Instead of the bare Jacaranda, I painted them into a world of draping vines, soft-focus greens, and warm light filtering through a canopy. The orchid leaf on the branch below the left bird came from a field trip to the park. The thin vine on the right side of the painting is something I've seen countless times in those forests — the kind of detail that catches your eye and then disappears.

Creating a painting from multiple times and places is one of my greatest pleasures as an artist. The kookaburras were photographed in my garden on a spring afternoon. The setting is a rainforest I love. The light is something I felt rather than observed. The painting brings them all together into something that couldn't exist anywhere but on the panel — and somehow feels completely real.

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The Awards

I want to mention the recognition Rainforest Glow has received, because it means a great deal to me and I wouldn't be truthful if I pretended otherwise.

In 2023, the painting was awarded a Medal of Excellence at Artists for Conservation in Canada, and a Gold Medal in the Animal Art category at Mondial Art Academia in France. In 2025 it was selected for the Boynes Art Award — an international online art prize. And in 2026 it was given a Special Merit award in the “Artists' Choice” competition by Art & Color 365 Magazine.

I share this not to boast — though I'll admit I'm quietly proud — but because I think awards like this are partly a recognition of the subject matter as much as the technique. Kookaburras are so familiar to most Australians that we can forget how extraordinary they are. 

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The Ants

This month there are three of them. Did you find them all before reading my hints?

I'll tell you where to look: one is tucked beneath the kookaburra on the left, sitting on the orchid leaf in the sun. The other two are making their way down the thin vine on the right side of the painting.

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Until Next Month

I'll be back in November with a painting that feels right for the time of year — and a letter that will, I hope, feel as much like sitting down together as this one does.

Thank you for being part of The Hidden Ant Society. It means more than I can easily say.

 

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Your Members-Only Discount This Month

As a Hidden Ant Society member, you have exclusive early access to Rainforest Glow — and an exclusive discount to match.

This month: 30% off Rainforest Glow in all sizes and mediums.

Use code RAINFOREST30 at checkout.
Valid until 15 November 2026.

Order HERE >>

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A Note on What Your Membership Supports

5% of the profits from every Hidden Ant Society membership goes directly to Port Stephens Koalas and Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue and Hospital — organisations caring for injured and orphaned native wildlife across NSW.

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Next Month

In November I'll be sharing another painting with a story behind it — more details to come.

You are receiving this letter as a member of The Hidden Ant Society.
If you need to make any changes to your membership, please contact us at ant-society@natalieparkerprints.com.au.

5% of profits from every membership supports Port Stephens Koalas and Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue and Hospital.