Hermann Beckler

For those of you who have been following my blog for a little while (and thank you to all who do follow) will know that I am involved in a project connecting botanical art with the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860. If you don’t know what I am talking about, and would like to, either click on the Beckler’s Botanical Bounty category on the right sidebar, or click here.

I have been helping to set up a blog to explain that project. So if you are interested in finding out more then click the link, have a look and maybe join the community.

http://becklersbotanical.blogspot.com.au/

This is the beginning of today’s post about Hermann Beckler and why he has inspired us. Future posts will be about the people involved in the project, the plants we are painting, and some of the sights we see up in the Big Sky Country of Menindee.

Dr Hermann Beckler left Bavaria and arrived in Moreton Bay, Queensland in 1856. Aged 27, he bought his Munich medical qualifications and a consuming desire to explore Australia’s interior and to collect specimens. While in Queensland he corresponded with Ferdinand Mueller, Victoria’s first government botanist.

Beckler was excited by news from Mueller about the possibility of a job collecting plant specimens. So he joined a party droving sheep down through inland New South Wales to meet Mueller in Melbourne. He was given a job to help organise the growing Australian collection in Victoria’s herbarium, and he developed his knowledge of Australian plants.

Continued on Beckler’s Botanical Bounty

Starting to paint my painting — or practising for the practice piece!

I am going to create a watercolour painting of my plant from Menindee, Cullen discolor. I have already written about identifying it, and the Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project that I am involved in.

 

Cullen discolor growing at Menindee. It loves the sandy red soils.

A small section of the stem that I will eventually paint.

Now to show you some of the process.

I am still a developing watercolour artist, and feel much more comfortable with pencil than a paint brush. I have begun with a practice piece, as I have to work my way through the colours and techniques that I will need for the final painting.

Actually, before that, I want to show you some detailed drawings of parts of C. discolor. These were from the live specimens I had when working in Menindee. I wanted to get as much visual information as possible while I still had the living plant.

Drawings of C. discolor, from my sketch book

I needed to match the colours as accurately as possible while I had the specimen before me. I made various mixes and recorded the paints I had used. You can also see some of my notes and reminders.

Then I began the practice piece. Actually, it was the practice practice piece. As I was painting it I had a crisis of confidence, as I had forgotten how to paint with watercolour washes and do dry brush work. All I could remember were the faults with my technique, especially rushing to the detail too quickly and too much water.

After I had calmed myself down, I went back to basics. That’s the bigger leaf in this painting. I went bigger, slower and thought about what I was doing with each stroke. That helped me to understand how I needed to approach the work. And helped me realise that I could do this after all!

The practice practice painting.

Thank heavens it was not the final, large work on the good (read expensive) paper! Finally I felt ready to begin the real practice painting.

The practice painting — still to be finished, but almost there.

I still have to finish this painting. Obviously the stems need to be painted in. The leaves need more work, which involves a lot more dry brush work. And they need highlights added to their edges. However, I am happy I have captured the texture of the leaves. (Remember, part of the identification for C. discolor is that the leaves are tomentose to hispid —  rough, with hairs between stiff and soft/matted.) As well, I think I understand how to paint the furriness of the inflorescences. But the proof is in the pudding, as they say! Stay tuned for progress reports.

Collecting a plant specimen

Despite me interrupting myself with posts about books and flowers, I am following a thread of the Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project. Have a look here to see what this project is and here and here to find out about plant identification.

After the plant has been accurately identified it needs to be collected, labelled and pressed. (It is illegal to pick wildflowers in Australia. We have a permit that allows us to do so.)

Keep in mind that you can only collect a small percentage of the plants in the area. We needed 4 specimens — a maximum of 5% of all of that species around. If it was a specimen from tree or bush it could only be 5% of that plant.

In the field

Undoing the press

Tabloid-size newspaper is laid so that one sheet is inside the other and so the writing is upside down. The scientific reason for doing this? So you wont be distracted by reading the articles!

If the specimen is too long it is bent, not cut. To help with identification it is necessary to include as many different parts of the plant as possible, including the root.

Attaching the tag

A tag, which includes the label number and plant name, is attached to the plant. This helps to keep track of the specimens. A collector will have many in the press by the end of the trip.

Folding the paper over the specimen — not easy to do on windy days!

The name of the specimen is written on the end of the newspaper. It is another way to help keep track of the specimens. As well it saves having to open each one when looking for a particular specimen.

Firmly tying up the press.

This process had to be repeated for 4 specimens of the plant. One will go to the National Herbarium of Victoria in Melbourne, as that is where Beckler’s specimens are. We are collecting in New South Wales, so, as a courtesy, one will go to the Herbarium of New South Wales in Sydney. One is for our own collection. Then there is the specimen we use for the painting.

Lastly, and very importantly, the label needs to be filled in. On this pad is recorded as much detail as possible about where the plant was collected. What is the habitat like? The soil type? Are there weeds about? Is it prolific? Under which trees? GPS co-ordinates will help future collectors know where to begin to look.

Plant identification #2

Correct plant identification is not only important to make sure it is on Beckler’s plant list. 

Botanic art can be defined as ‘making science visible’. Its fundamental purpose is to help both scientists and lay people identify plants. Botanic art is not a still life painting of roses in a vase. It is an accurate painting that clearly shows the parts of a plant which allow the identification of that plant. So, a botanic painting of a rose would include details such as the shape, colour, form, leaves and probably hips — the aspects that allow it to be identified as a particular variety or species.

However, there is the artistic aspect and it is important. The artist makes the decisions on the medium to use, the composition of the painting, the focal point, the size and so on. The painting allows the personality of the artist to come through.

Cullen discolor

I don’t profess to be a top class botanic artist, and my painting skills are still developing. However, I am part of Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project, which, in turn, is part of the tradition of botany in Australia. My painting needs to be accurate.

To be able to make my painting of Cullen discolor as accurate as possible I need to understand ‘tomentose to hispid’. My painting should show a surface that is between matted soft hairs and rough firm hairs. Whether it does is up to my painting skill. I need to know that the petioles are between 2 and 7 cms long so that my drawing doesn’t make them too long or too short. And so on.

My notes

As well, it is interesting to know that C. discolor grows in sandy soils, flowers September to January and is endangered in Victoria. Not many people know what C. discolor looks like. Nor do they know C. pallidum or C. cinereum. They are unlikely to look at my paintings and say “That’s not right”. However I will know and I want it to be as correct as my skills will let me. And it may just be used as an identification tool sometime in the future.

Plant identification

“Is it on the List?”

Hermann Beckler collected 120 different species of plants around Menindee. It is that list that the Beckler Botanical Bounty Project is using. So correct identification is very important!

The type of habitat where we were searching for our plants

I am a gardener, not a botanist. I find it hard to hold the Latin names in my head. I have no idea of many of the botanical plant terms. So identifying plants was a huge learning curve for me — and I am still only a little way on that curve!

We have been so lucky to have had the support of a botanist whose work takes him regularly to Kinchega National Park.  As you walk with him he points to plants and says, “That’s a so and so (fill in Latin plant name here), that’s a such and such (add different Latin name). That one over there is on Beckler’s list, this one isn’t.” So he was able to help sort plants in the field. That was a massive help.

Looking for the right plants

However much we would have liked it, he couldn’t always be with us. And sometimes he was unsure. So then it was back to the reference books.

I am working on plants from the genus Cullen. This year I was working on a species Cullen discolor. But I had to be sure that my identification was correct.

Cullen discolor

It is described as ‘a perennial herb with stems prostrate to 1.5 metres’. Okay, I get those terms. Then the description said ‘tomentose to hispid’. These I discover are descriptions of hairiness. Its leaves are pinnately 3 foliate, narrow to broad, lanceolate to elliptic and less pubescent on the upper surface. The margins are toothed. There are petioles and stipules, peduncles and calyxes — and I never got to dissect the flower, which has more specialised terminology!

Reference material

So, having nutted my way through the key, and gone to botanical dictionaries and other more knowledgeable people, I am confident that this is Cullen discolor.

“Perennial herb with stems prostrate to 1.5 metres.”

At least I knew that this Cullen was ‘on the list’. Some artists went through the identification process, only to find it was one that Beckler hadn’t collected. Then it was out into the bush again to repeat the process.

Hermann Beckler, botanical art and Menindee

Back in 1860 Hermann Beckler collected plant specimens during the Burke and Wills Expedition. (For posts about that check here and here.) Those specimens ended up in the Herbarium in Victoria. Now zoom forward 150 years to 2010, the 150th Anniversary of the Expedition.

There were a number of events and celebrations that year to mark the event. Mali Moir, respected and very talented botanic artist devised a botanic art project. After discussing her idea with some others the Beckler Botanical Bounty was begun. The idea was to go to Menindee, collect and press specimens of the same species that Beckler had collected. These specimens would sit alongside Beckler’s in the Herbarium. However, Mali’s truly fabulous inspiration was that each specimen would be painted. There is a list of 120 taxa collected in 1860 within 20km of Menindee. This list was the basis of our work.

So in 2010 the first group went to Menindee and began the process. I went in 2011 and 2012, and would love to be there again in 2013!

The Menindee post office

The mains street of Menindee

The Maiden Hotel

The broad process is that we identify the plant, collect it (with the correct permits, of course), press it and then start the painting. But things are not always that easy! Correctly identifying a plant can involve time, patience and some very thick reference books! Then there is a very good chance that it is not on Beckler’s list, so it is back outside again!

Some of the reference material we use for identification.

Collected specimens, ready to be pressed and stored

After the specimen is collected and pressed, the drawing and painting begins. If you are interested in finding out how individual artists go about their work you can follow the link to our Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Blog.