Merlin's forest, Wilksch Walk, Northbridge

She steps lightly across the creek, watching her own reflection as she passes. A flutter catches her eye and she peers down into the tea-stained water. A powerful owl has silently landed on a branch overhead and she sees his silhouette. She looks up now and squints through the filtered light. He watches. She watches.

There is nothing else but the hush of a breeze and the quiet rustle of drying leaves. Up above the gully, Sydney swelters. The blazing sun beats down everything in its path, unrelenting, turning forests to cinders. But down here, the air is clean and cool, like a damp cloth coaxing the summer from her skin.

Oil on canvas. 102cm x76 cm. Unframed (photos with frames for demonstration purposes only). Free postage within Australia and New Zealand. $A50 postage and handling for other countries.