Birdie.

Framed, this portrait works as a proper piece: the frame picks up the blue-grey of the background and lets the eyes do all the work. I created it still and facing forward, the black-and-white mask centred, the big dark eyes staring at you without blinking, and the red of the coat framing them like a frame within the frame. Hung at eye level, it commands an entire wall: it doesn't matter if it's a hallway, a studio or a child's room, that small face stays with you. It arrives ready to hang, nothing more than a nail needed.

In his story, those big eyes are almost always looking off into the distance: Birdie is a child who spends his days waiting for someone to appear in the distance, and that quiet waiting is what stares back at you once it's on the wall. And a detail you can't see in the print: emperor penguins live in colonies of thousands and find each other by voice, each call as unique as a fingerprint. That's why this chick, his people say, never forgets a voice. If this face has won you over, his whole life is in his biography; and if you'd rather have it unframed, the same portrait is available as a print.