Dear Fellow Wildlife Lover,

Welcome to your second letter from The Hidden Ant Society.

I hope your first package arrived safely and that you managed to track down all three ants in King's Branch. If you're still looking — no spoilers here, but the Facebook group is a good place to compare notes.

This month I'm taking you into a very different painting — smaller in scale, quieter in mood, but one that I have loved  since the day I finished it.

Before you read on, take a moment with this month's print. There's an ant in there. He's in a fairly prominent position this time — but I'll leave you to find him before I tell you exactly where.

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This Month: Eye of the Beholder — Azure Kingfisher

I'm revisiting one of my favourite paintings from 2022 — Eye of the Beholder, an Azure Kingfisher painted on Claybord, measuring just 20 × 20cm.

It was part of a series of twelve small square paintings — kingfishers, frogs, possums, and parrots, three of each — and if I'm being truthful, this one holds a special place for me. There's something about the Azure Kingfisher that I find truly beautiful. That extraordinary combination of deep ultramarine blue and burnt orange shouldn't work, and yet in nature it's one of the most breathtaking colour pairings to see. 

This letter is a step-by-step walk through how I brought this small painting to life.

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Behind the Painting

Once the initial sketch is finalised, I trace the basic elements onto the Claybord. Using low-tack tape and a sharp scalpel blade, I trim the tape carefully to the outline of my subject — this masking is what allows me to airbrush freely without losing the crisp edges I need.

All of my artworks are painted in Liquitex Soft-bodied Acrylic, with Liquitex Airbrush Medium added to create the right consistency for the paint to flow cleanly through the airbrush. For this painting, I wanted the background to feel like a river winding into the distance — soft, slightly out of focus, the way your eye actually sees it when you're standing on a creek bank watching a kingfisher hunt.

Once the background dried — I removed the masking and did something I almost always do: I started with the eyes.

There's a practical reason for this — once the eyes are alive, I have someone to keep me company while I work through the rest of the painting. (Thirty years of studio solitude, and talking to a 20cm kingfisher still feels perfectly reasonable to me.)

My approach from here follows a consistent rhythm: background details first, working progressively toward the foreground. Acrylic paint is wonderfully opaque and forgiving — it allows you to build in layers, correcting and refining as you go. I masked out the fern leaves to keep them clean which will allow them to pop once the greens and highlights were painted in. The texture of the rock was created with a small sea sponge — a trick I've used for years — followed by fine detail work with small brushes for the cracks, lichen, and mosses.

And then, finally, the kingfisher himself.

This is always the moment I look forward to most. A base of Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Orange applied with a glaze brush, then layer upon layer of colour tones and structure built up with a selection of different size brushes. Leaving the main subject until near the end is deliberate — when it finally comes together, it lifts the entire painting. Everything that came before suddenly makes sense.

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The Ant

Last but not least — and those of you who already collect my work will know this moment well — just before I sign the painting, I add my ant.

He's been in almost every painting I've ever signed. Not always easy to find. Some of my collectors have spent years tracking them all down across their collections. I think of him as my small, unofficial co-signature — a reminder that even in the grandest scene, it's the tiny details that reward a patient eye.

In Eye of the Beholder, he's in a fairly prominent spot — centre of the painting, to the right, on the fern stem. Keeping a respectful distance from the kingfisher.

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Next Month — Something Very Special

I'm particularly excited about July's letter.

Next month's print features a brand new artwork that has never been released as a print before. Hidden Ant Society members will be the very first people in the world to receive it.

I'm not going to say anything more than that — except that it involves one of my favourite subjects to paint, and I think you're going to love it.

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Until then, thank you for being part of The Hidden Ant Society. It means a great deal to me that you're here.

Your Members-Only Discount This Month

As a Hidden Ant Society member, you receive an exclusive monthly discount on the featured artwork.

This month: 30% off Eye of the Beholder in all sizes and mediums.

Use code EYE30 at checkout.
Valid until 15 July 2026.

Shop Eye of the Beholder here:
https://www.natalieparkerprints.com.au/warehouse/art_print_products/eye-of-the-beholder-azure-kingfisher

[QR CODE — links to product page in print version]

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See More — Members Gallery

This month's members page includes colour photos of Eye of the Beholder at various stages of completion, plus a short video walkthrough of the airbrushing technique. Scan the QR code below to access it — it's just for members.

[QR CODE — links to hidden blog page]

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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. These are organisations doing extraordinary work caring for injured and orphaned native wildlife, and I'm proud to support them. In a small way, your membership does too.

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If you need to make any changes to your membership, please contact us at ant-society@natalieparkerprints.com.au