I was fortunate to begin my rather optimistic treasure hunt some twenty years ago, to find every Australian Banksia. This began as a series of adventures that were to last for many years. My wife, who has earned the title of ‘Chief Banksia Spotter’, and I, have travelled to most of the banksia areas in Australia. Of the Eastern Banksias, which comprise just nineteen species, there was only one that eluded us, B. conferta subsp. conferta with its home high on the steep slopes of Mt. Tibrogargon in Queensland’s Glass House Mountains. I must admit that my love for banksias is far exceeded by my fear of heights and I felt that it would quite happily survive without my intrusion. It was fortunate I grew its close relative B. conferta subsp. penicillata in my garden where it quickly reached 1.5m and produced several flowers and cones. Fortunately I was able to paint this rare banksia before it promptly died!

Most Eastern Banksias are fairly common, usually growing on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and along the adjacent coastal strip. The exception is B. ornata, the Desert Banksia, which is found only in the Grampians and Western Victoria. We travelled to far North Queensland to see B. dentata, the Tropical Banksia, a rather small open tree often growing in seasonally damp situations. The Tropical Banksia has the widest distribution of any species, found intermittently across the top of Australia from Queensland to the Kimberleys and can be seen on both east and west coasts. This is the only banksia occurring outside Australia, in Papua New Guinea and some islands.

To find one of the rarest Eastern banksias, it was a trip to Eastern Victoria, to the small coastal town of Mallacoota some 500kms east of Melbourne. B. croajingolensis, the Gippsland Banksia, has adopted its specific name from the Croajingolong National Park where it is confined to an area of about a hectare consisting of around a hundred plants on the south bank of Shipwreck Creek. The name Croajingolong is of aboriginal origin. This small growing banksia differs from its relatives by opening its flowers from the top of the spike first.

Without doubt one of our favourites is B. robur, the Eastern Swamp Banksia. With it’s harsh leaves with cadmium yellow veins, the developing flowers with ever changing colours, together with the many tones of the ageing flowers, this plant always begs attention wherever it is seen. We have many of these wonderful plants thriving in our garden. Our most impressive encounter with B. robur (which means strong) was to see a colony of many two metre high plants thriving in a very wet swampy area near Cooktown in North Queensland, one of the few species that tolerate such conditions.

A couple of very different banksias are B. plagiocarpa, the Blue Banksia or Dallachys’s Banksia, and B. aquilonia formerly known as B. integrifolia var. aquilonia, both being closely related. It’s a trip to Hinchinbrook Island near Cardwell on the North Queensland coast for B. plagiocarpa. A trip to Hinchinbrook is always enjoyable, chasing banksias or not, but it’s a days walk to reach B. plagiocarpa. With limited time we were satisfied to see this species growing commercially on the Atherton Tablelands instead, its unusual flowers vary in colour from steel blue through to light mauve.

Its close relative B. aquilonia is far more common. We have seen it growing with ferns in the wet rainforest near Tully in North Queensland almost at sea level. Within 100kms we can find it high in the Herberton Ranges on the Atherton Tablelands thriving in dry rocky soils at around 1200m above sea level.

The mid north coast of New South Wales around Byron Bay and Lennox Head are the homes of B. oblongifolia and B. aemula, the Wallum Banksia, I first thought this plant to be B. serrata, as it was formerly known as B. serratifolia. The cone with the huge dark follicles, the largest of any Eastern species, cleared any mistaken identity. B. oblongifolia accompanies B. aemula in this rather swampy coastal heathland known as Wallum country.

The exposed south and east coasts of Victoria and New South Wales feature many small forms of banksia species such as B. spinulosa, ericifolia, paludosa and even the large B. serrata. These variations have evolved over thousands of years, influenced by their exposure to the winds and gales of the Southern Ocean. We see dwarf forms and some prostrate plants clearly exhibiting the effects of this environment. It is pleasing to see many of these little banksias being propagated by the nursery trade, often with attractive and imaginative names. These plants usually maintain their dwarfing characteristics even when planted in a more hospitable climate.

Chasing the Eastern banksias was a relatively easy project. Most grow in coastal areas which are pleasant and enjoyable places to visit. Their Western cousins are much more widespread with many more members, although like their eastern relatives they also make their homes in many wonderful places. The hunt for these widespread Western banksias is quite a different story.

The flower is the first to be painted, as in the event of ruining it in the early stages, no other work is lost. I have an efficient shredder that copes very well with such events and I must add that these events are not really rare! I can easily spend a couple of days painting the flowers, although I do have regular breaks doing this fine work. The first colour is very light, progressively darkening the flower with successive painting until the desired colour is reached. The next most difficult area is the cone as the usually darker colour and irregular shape makes for a more forgiving subject.

Banksias have many types of leaves, often thin and pine like. These are an exercise in painting parallel lines, with some species having hundreds of them, and painting these leaves is when I ask myself why I paint Banksias! The wider leaves involve many light washes to display the curved and wrinkled foliage. When all leaves are finished I like to line the margins to define a clear edge that occurs on the plant itself and to edge the many serrated type leaves of some Banksias is a time consuming exercise. The leaves constitute the major part of the work, it is the shading, the contrasts and various colour tones that bring depth and life to the painting. With the painting completed the image is scanned in preparation for printing. The textured paper, as mentioned earlier, usually creates a coloured background. I prefer this to be a clear white to enhance the clarity of the work in the prints. I clear this toned background in a paint shop program on the computer together with a general clean up of any untidy brush strokes. It is always a satisfying moment to see a wild Banksia finally laid to rest on paper.

The brief articles covering my work are entirely derived from experience during the learning process which, of course, is still ongoing. I have never had any lessons whatsoever in any form of art and perhaps many critics would suggest I should take some! The techniques I have used undoubtedly would never conform to the theories of basic art. My many years of banksia painting have not been to produce award winning art, but to create images that are reasonably accurate for amateur botanists to identify their finds and hopefully enjoy my work. I have never tried to enhance my subjects — what I see is what you get!

While putting these notes together I have kept in mind the possibility of people, like myself, who may be interested in botanical art as a hobby. Botanical painting fits well with people who have a love of flowers, in my case Banksias, although I have also spent many hours painting orchids and butterflies. While rather an odd combination it is always rewarding and satisfying.

It has often been suggested to me that by never having taken lessons, I have not been influenced by another artist. I will never know that answer to that but I can simply say “I did it my way!”

My choice is a mechanical pencil using 2B .05mm lead. The 2B is sufficiently soft to draw fine lines, although the lead will break under a heavy hand. I find the harder HB lead that is available in .03mm can seriously damage the surface of the paper. From my field sketches I copy freehand onto the art paper ready for painting. I use French Arches, cold pressed 100% cotton (300gsm) medium paper, size 420 x 590mm. Three surface textures are available, smooth, medium and rough. I use medium as I feel the smooth presents a rather lack-lustre painting while rough paper is the other extreme, too coarse for fine detail although excellent for landscape and other art. Textured papers can result in problems if the image is to be printed and I will cover this subject a little further in my remarks on painting.

Initially I layout a skeleton of the field sample. Leaves are represented by three lines, one for the mid-rib and one each for the leaf margins, with leaves showing the undersides only clearly marked. I take special care that all leaves sit naturally on the main stem as a leaf at an uncomfortable angle will be extremely uncomfortable to the eye. Outlines of the flower and cone are also allowed for in the basic sketch. Before I start the flower I draw a vertical line through the centre so that the finished work is absolutely vertical. A few degrees either way and the flower will hurt the eye forever.

Drawing the flower requires a small degree of skill, a far greater degree of consistent and even drawing, then finally an enormous amount of patience, and always with an eraser close at hand! A flower can take several hours to complete and the cone presents a similar challenge.

The final work on the leaves involves carefully illustrating the leaf edges to show the serrations, as in B. serrata, or smooth, as with B. integrifolia, or one of the many other types of edges. When the drawing is complete, and this could take a day or two, I remove much of the graphite leaving only sufficient to show lines for the brush to follow. This is done by tapping the eraser on the work, never using a rubbing action. To protect the work while drawing or painting I use a mask made from a sheet of watercolour paper the same size as the painting. I cut an opening 150mm square near the top right corner leaving a 100mm margin on the top and side of the opening. The sheet can then be turned around or over to protect the work. Even the very best artists can transfer very minute traces of oily perspiration onto the paper. These fingermarks may be a great asset at a crime scene but never at an art scene, as they can produce a slightly waterproof surface, not at all helpful with watercolour.

A final critical check on leaf placement and layout usually results in some alterations as the work must be complete in all aspects to be ready for the brush… which is a more colourful story

Banksias are a challenging and rather difficult subject to draw or paint, some species have several thousand flowers, often in incredible uniform formation, and the cones can present the same form structures. It is the flowers that present the greatest challenge to recreate. My first introduction to watercolour was to paint some of the local ground orchids and these small delicate flowers demanded the fine pencils and brushes that I still use today. I love this fine detailed work. My first attempt at Banksia painting was of B. marginata and I enjoyed painting the leaves with their various tones. The relatively small flowers seemed to take forever just to do the pencil work, only to be exceeded by an even more boring task of painting. I felt there must be an easier way to handle these boring flowers but twenty years later I have not yet found that easier way. After years of practice, together with a great degree of patience, I find the work no longer boring and to bring a Banksia to life is most enjoyable and satisfying.

My first serious Banksia painting was B. serrata to enter in a local art show. The judge at the time was Charles McCubbin, who gave me a Highly Commended award, and this encouraged me to regard Banksia painting more seriously. I regard Charles McCubbin, who has sadly recently passed away, as my most revered artist. I occasionally browse through my copy of his wonderful book of ‘Australian Butterflies’ and always marvel at the incredibly detailed paintings of these wonderful insects. It would not surprise me if a butterfly suddenly left the page and flew away — so wonderful is his beautiful work.

After painting most of the Eastern Banksia species I looked to the many Western Australian plants and after many trips to the West, my obsession to paint every Banksia was finally complete.

When I locate a different species I usually make a simple sketch in situ or take a typical sample for details. I use an A3 pad mounted in a wooden frame that holds my mechanical pencils, a kneadable rubber eraser and a ruler. The basic sketch usually show the placement of the leaves which are initially represented by a single line, the cone is often drawn separately. Tracings and samples of leaves are important to later verify size and margins, all necessary details of colours are noted and recorded with the sketch. Ample photos further record the colours and structure. When time permits the sketch is finalised, the single line representing the leaves usually becomes the midrib. The flowers are completed to record the form.

These initial sketches are very time consuming as all details are important for the final painting. Our first trip to Western Australia involved sketching and photographing over thirty different Banksia… but that’s another story.