Australian State Floral Emblems

I have been so incredibly busy since my last blog. I had a strict deadline for six commission paintings of the Australian state floral emblems. These will go on a dinner set, placemats and other merchandise and will be available at Christmas.

 

At the same time I was doing these paintings, I visited Hobart - met with glorious weather. What a change from my previous trip in October last year where it was extremely cold, unbelievably windy and even snowing at Oatlands. I will be doing another 'Sketching Historic  Tasmania' tour and am in the planning stages. The last tour was a great success with so many historical places to visit and sketch.

 

Back to my botanical paintings....here are some of the processes I used for the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha), which is the floral emblem for the Commonwealth of Australia.

 

The first stage was my line drawing which was submitted for approval. More leaves were requested.

The first wash

 

With my work, I am continually assessing. Thought this needed many more flowers as it had to stand out on a white plate. I was asked to paint them strong and bright.

 

No sooner had a finished one painting then had to immediately begin another. Half way through the commission, I also had another committment which took me away for another two weeks. Pleased to say the six paintings were finished on time.

 



The final painting

 



Surviving Baxteri species

I am currently working on a series of very exciting commissions. To date I have complered five of the 14 surviving Baxteri species found predominantly south west of Western Australia, around the Albany area. These plants were collected around 1828 and many of seeds were sent back to England.

Banksia baxteri
Leonie Norton

Above is one of the paintings I have completed, and I feel it is a great privilege to be able to do this work which is so wonderfully challenging, and so rewarding.



I have always admired the work of Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826), a competent botanist and extraordinary botanical and natural history artist. He went on many voyages of discovery to illustrate new and exotic animal and plant species.

Sir Joseph Banks arranged for Bauer to accompany Matthew Flinders on the Investigator for the voyage to Australia 1801-1803. Plant dissections are a feature of his work.

I had the great fortune to actually see many of his original paintings at the Natural History Museum in London. The glowing vibrancy of the colours was astonishing and I was in total awe.



Agonis baxteri
Leonie Norton

I love the traditionalism of botanical art. Even though I like to paint unusual plants and often with a more contemporary interpretation, I also love returning to tradition.

After returning from Bali (I leave in a few days) I have another two Baxteri paintings to complete.

The passion never wanes....