Story of the Piece: Foundations of the Forest

Living in Far North Queensland, I'm surrounded by some of the most extraordinary rainforests. I've always been fascinated by the enormous buttress roots of our rainforest giants, the way they twist and spread, and how an entire little world seems to exist around them.

That was the starting point for Foundations of the Forest. Another piece in my Obsidian Worlds series, inspired by Far North Queensland.

As with much of my work, I had an idea of what I wanted to create, but not necessarily how I was going to get there. I wanted the roots to have real dimension, with aerial roots, ferns, fungi and foliage growing around them. And, of course, I wanted creatures hiding amongst it all.

Creating the piece became an exercise in experimenting with materials, sculpting individual elements, building layers and working out how to bring everything together. Some details are obvious, like the Hercules moth. Others, including a frog and a little green tree snake, doing what they do so well in a rainforest - hiding.

The black background is an important part of my Obsidian Worlds series. I love how pigments and resin interact with light, allowing different colours, textures and details to appear depending on where you're standing.

I think that's what I enjoy most about creating these pieces. I can spend hours making the tiniest details, knowing that someone might not discover them until they've looked at the artwork several times. I love how completely different these pieces can look depending on the light. Sometimes, even the tiniest speck of colour reveals itself only when the light catches it at just the right angle.

Something you hadn't noticed before suddenly appears. And I rather like that.

That sense of wonder, delight and a little bit of magic is something I try to bring to everything I create.