It may look like a stained glass window, but this stunning artwork is actually an oil painting that won a Strathpine artist high praise from judges of the annual Moreton Bay Region Art Awards.

Trisha Mason said her winning piece, entitled Life’s Beautiful Journey, was a “commentary on life and death”.

“There’s an angel in the stained glass window and little sections of the glass are broken,” she said.

“At the bottom where a piece of glass is missing there’s a plant growing... which represents life.

“Over her shoulder there’s a piece of glass missing and we can see outside to the sunset, and that’s meant to represent death.

“It’s to show that life, like this window, is colourful and beautiful but it’s fragile.

“This angel is my first attempt at this (style).  I used to do indigenous-based artwork... so playing with oil paints is a learning curve for me.”

The other major winners of the art awards, which attracted entries from as far away as Tasmania, were Christine Turner of Bundaberg, with her photo entry, Girl, and Nicola Moss of Willow Vale, with her work on paper, Life on the Edge – Caught in the Flow.