![Peter Marsack's painting of a monal is on display at the Morpeth Gallery. Picture by Simone De Peak Peter Marsack's painting of a monal is on display at the Morpeth Gallery. Picture by Simone De Peak](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/E9srhG6YCw3ZDt9UDADP4R/145b3105-e0e5-4156-aa99-5f3c20ee7dd9.jpg/r0_0_5556_3630_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
PETER Marsack will never forget the moment he laid his eyes on the elusive and "spectacular" monal.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Deep in the foothills on the Himalayas in the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, the Newcastle artist was accompanied by two other bird enthusiasts.
They had earlier awoken at 3am and driven along winding mountain roads in a jeep, through Indian military checkpoints and into Sela Pass, which stands at 4,170 metres above sea level near the Bhutan and Tibetan border.
This epic journey was to catch a glimpse of the monal, a colourful pheasant native to the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and India.
For many "birders", the monal is considered "the best bird ever", due to its stunning feathers and remote habitat.
"By the time we got there we'd had various dramas pushing stuck vehicles off the road and that sort of thing, but we got out and looked around at the top and someone said, 'that looks like a monal'," Marsack remembers.
"It was sitting under a Christmas tree covered in snow about 100 metres away. In the end when you see them they're not that shy and we probably saw half a dozen that day.
"It was spectacular."
Six years after Marsack's odyssey to witness the monal in its natural habitat, his painting inspired by the encounter is on display at the Morpeth Gallery as part of its Feathers and Fur Wildlife Art Exhibition over the June Long Weekend.
The annual exhibition is referred to as the "Animal Archibalds" and presents a shortlist of works inspired by the natural world.
It was sitting under a Christmas tree covered in snow about 100 metres away. In the end when you see them they're not that shy and we probably saw half a dozen that day. It was spectacular.
- Peter Marsack
Although Marsack undertook his trip to Arunachal Pradesh in 2018, he only completed his monal painting two months ago.
It marked a different approach from his former work as a bird illustrator on the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) and the Australian Bird Guide published by the CSIRO in 2017.
"I've worked as a bird illustrator doing how to identify birds in field guides for 25 years, so you're always looking at structure and trying to explain stuff," he says.
"I'm trying to get into a new kind of thing where you're painting an experience.
![Peter Marsack's painting of the monal. Picture by Simone De Peak Peter Marsack's painting of the monal. Picture by Simone De Peak](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/E9srhG6YCw3ZDt9UDADP4R/bf6bf4cb-8471-44b8-9602-81bf492c3cfa.jpg/r0_0_4104_3328_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"So we got some dodgy photos of this bird at an extreme distance and that was enough to construct it and come up with an accurate shape. I had plenty of pictures of the mountains to pull it all together and make a painting out of it."
Marsack says he's extremely proud of the artwork due to its emotional impact.
"For me it brings back the feeling of that day, the place," he says. "The huge mountains and dusting of snow and this bird sitting in the middle of it all, looking like some kind of display item in a store - effervescent and huge.
"It's sitting there with it's huge ridiculous crest up. It's a painting that brings it all back."
Marsack returned to Newcastle last year from Canberra after initially falling in love with the city when he studied Plant and Wildlife Illustration at the University of Newcastle in the 1990s.
Before that he'd spent a decade working as a research biologist with the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia.
Throughout his life, Marsack has always been fascinated by birds and travelling the world. It's a passion that was stoked as a child when his parents' work in the United Nations meant he spent time living in Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the UK.
"They're accessible and there's a lot of them," he says of birds. "If you look there's always something new. They're quite well known, so there's plenty of guide books around, so if you want to know what something is [you can find out]."
![Trevor Richards, the organiser of the Feathers and Fur Wildlife Art Exhibition with artist and bird enthusiast Peter Marsack. Picture by Simone De Peak Trevor Richards, the organiser of the Feathers and Fur Wildlife Art Exhibition with artist and bird enthusiast Peter Marsack. Picture by Simone De Peak](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/E9srhG6YCw3ZDt9UDADP4R/1ec87131-a71e-4060-b822-612fa55063c2.jpg/r0_0_5503_3571_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Marsack's thirst for birds isn't under threat of being quenched.
"There's literally thousands of birds I want to see," he says. "In Australia there's probably hundreds.
"You get to Australia and you start to work a place and your birds per dollar falls off quite fast. It takes work to find new stuff. There's still fairly common Australian birds that I still have not seen, which is bit of a disgrace."
The Feathers and Fur Wildlife Art Exhibition runs until Monday at the Morpeth Gallery.