He was watching a tiny yellow robin, the size of a mouse, hopping dramatically between perches in the picnic area. It stopped in one place for only seconds, tilting its head in a search for something, but never content at what it could see.

He followed it to learn if there was a pattern to its behaviour. Despite having an entire forest to explore, it repeatedly landed in same few places, though not in any particular order: the tree trunk, the ground, the railing, the branch. Many times it chose to cling sideways to the rough red and black trunk of an ironbark tree.

He didn’t know why it kept coming back to the same place even though it had the freedom to sit anywhere. He also knew if somebody was watching his patterns, they’d see him stopping in the same places that he found comfortable despite having an entire world to explore.

Oil on canvas. 40cm x 30cm.