It’s surprising what lives there…..

Even though I have travelled up to Menindee for five years now I am always surprised by the diversity in the environment.

Menindee/Broken Hill Road (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2011)

Silver City Hwy, (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

As I have said a few times, you look out the car window and see a flat, dry, uninteresting landscape. Is it an arid area? I guess so, although Philip Moore says in the introduction to his invaluable book A guide to plants of Inland Australia

…arid and dry not only mean parched but have connotations of uninteresting, dull, barren, unproductive and lacking spiritual or creative life. Those are not the feelings engendered in most Australians who, according to surveys, describe our natural and wilderness areas as happy, friendly, sacred, huge, roadless, pure, remote, alive, exciting, unique, wild, challenging, inspiring, valuable, restful, free and unspoilt. [p12]

Wow, that is some list of positives. He goes on to say

While we acknowledge that these are perhaps rose-tinted views from the workplace and the city gridlock, they nevertheless do reflect our regard for that large inland portion of sparsely inhabited and starkly beautiful country we affectionately call the outback.

That notion of the Outback is a curious one too. Something I read, and I think it was in Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing, made me stop and think. When a character, who lived in remote Queensland was asked where the Outback was, he said that it was further out. Many would consider his station in the Outback, but for him it was home and the Outback was further on.

I understand that. Before I went to Broken Hill and Menindee the Outback was much of inland Australia. Having explored the fringes of the Inland, including the Flinders Ranges, I tend to think of the Outback as the land further over, over the distant horizon. It’s the area that is unfamiliar, undiscovered and unexplored by me. The Outback has become a concept rather than an actual place. What do you think? And I wonder what those who live in these remote places think.

Menindee/Ivanhoe Road (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

Around Menindee (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

Along the pipeline, between Menindee and Copi Hollow (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

The Old Homestead area, Kinchega National Park (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

The Old Homestead area, Kinchega National Park (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

However it is far from being a dry, barren environment. You only have to walk a little way into the landscape to see the diversity.

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Every plant is doing what it can to survive and reproduce. You see the plants that flourish when the season is right for them, the plants that creep or climb on others, that put on a marvellous show like the poached egg daisy. You see the ones that shelter in the shade of the bigger plants or thrive out in the open. You notice that not every bush is a saltbush and that even the saltbushes have beauty and difference.

This is just a small gallery of species that grow there.

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Then there are the animals — fortunately no snake photos! There are many species of birds that live along the banks of the Darling River. They move so quickly that often you only catch a flash of colour, so unfortunately photos are very difficult.

Kookaburra (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

Emu (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

Swallow fledglings (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

Stumpy tail lizard (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

Look how well camouflaged this magnificent fellow is, as he strolls through Kinchega National Park.

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

And speaking of camouflage, can you see the animals in the photo?

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2015)

The end of the week in Menindee

Our week of botanical art was over in a flash.

To bring yourself up to speed on the project I am involved with look at my Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project category.

The first step was to find the plants on Beckler’s original list. (Please remember that we collect plants with permits. It is illegal to remove plants without it. We also collect according to strict herbarium guidelines, which say that only 10% of a plant population may be collected.)

Out in the field (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Then the plant needed to be identified. We are so lucky to have Andrew, a botanist who is very familiar with the plants in Kinchega National Park. Without him we would still be floundering around!

We use a written key to help identification and often a microscopic is necessary. To give you an example for my plant one of the distinguishing features was that the pod protruded a specific number of millimetres from the calyx (the green sheath that surrounds the flower). This was much easier to measure under the microscope.

Identifying plants (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

This year I was looking for the fourth species in a genus. I have found and painted the other three, but this one Cullen cinereum had been elusive. But, oh happy days, this year there was a good size colony growing out on the dry bed of Lake Pamamaroo.

The dried bed of Lake Pamamaroo (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Cullen cinereum growing in Lake Pamamaroo (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Cullen cinereum growing in Lake Pamamaroo (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Fortunately there were lots of plants and I was able to collect my 10%. We collect four specimens which we press. One goes to the National Herbarium of Victoria, because that is where Becker’s original collection is held. One goes to the NSW Herbarium, because we are collecting in NSW. The third is for our project’s reference collection and the fourth is the plant we actually draw.

Cullen cinereum growing quite happily in a take away coffee cup! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

The pressed specimen for the National Herbarium of Victoria. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Close up of C. cinereum (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Close up of C. cinereum (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

The next step in the process varies from artist to artist. Many of the others do beautiful microscopic drawings, dissections showing male and female parts, cross-sections of seed capsules and so on. I find that very hard to do, so have to find other ways to tell the plant’s story.

I did a detailed drawing of the C. cinereum on tracing paper. Tracing paper is smoother than paper and the surface doesn’t mark when I rub out. It also allows me to transfer the drawing to the good paper more easily. Then I do a tonal drawing on another piece of tracing paper, over the top of the line drawing. This gives me a good reference when I get home. No matter how good the photos are, they are never quite the same as what you see. I don’t have any close ups of those drawings but I can show them to you when I get home.

My desk, showing the line drawing on tracing paper (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

The last step for me was to do the colour charts. Then it was Friday, the last day in the Hall; it was time to press my plant and clean up, hoping that I have enough reference material to work on at home!

Mutawintji National Park

I have just come back to Menindee after spending a few days in Mutawintji National Park. It is a couple of hours north east of Broken Hill.

Have you ever seen the movie “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”? It was filmed in Broken Hill. So if you have seen it you can visualise the landscape we were travelling through. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you do, as it is a fabulous film!

We were following in the footsteps of Burke and Wills. Our guide was Garry, a member of the Burke and Wills Society who had been this way a few years ago. He was so knowledgeable about the area, even arranging for us to go onto private land to see where some of the paintings from the expedition were painted.

I have mentioned that I am up here, with other botanic artists to paint the plants collected by Hermann Beckler on the Expedition. The naturalist and artist on the Expedition was Ludwig Becker (similar name, but without the ‘l’). He was a very talented artist, producing some gems on the journey. Unfortunately he was one of the men who died during the trip.

The photo shows a copy of Becker’s landscape with the original view. It gives a good idea of the terrain. Difficult enough to travel through in a car — imagine how much more difficult on foot leading camels and horses.

Beckler also produced sketches on the journey, although not as good as Becker’s. I can just see them both sitting on the banks of the Darling River sketching and painting this scene. The first photo is Becker’s watercolour and the second Beckler’s sketch.

They headed to Mutawintji because they knew that it was a permanent water source. ‘Permanent water source’ in that environment often simply means a pool of water. There was certainly no flowing water in either the Homestead Creek or the Mutawintji Gorge when we camped there, although there were a couple of waterholes in the latter.

The National Park is the tribal area of the Malyankapa and Paadjikali People and there are many examples of their rock art. People have been gathering at this oasis for thousands of years for celebrations and ceremonies. The gatherings still go on today. In September 1998 the Mutawintji National Park was handed back to its traditional owners.

After the peace and isolation of Mutawintji I have come back to the Big Smoke of Menindee– and to the lovely hot showers in the caravan park!

(Hope this post works okay — it is difficult to preview. Fingers crossed!)

Off to Menindee

I am creating a flurry of activity, getting ready for our annual trip up to Menindee.

I am part of a group of botanic artists who go to Menindee each year, and I drag the Fella along as support crew. Menindee is a little town an hour out of Broken Hill, in the Outback of New South Wales. It was there that the Burke and Wills Expedition stopped for a while. It is also where Hermann Beckler, the doctor on the Expedition, collected plants. Although German, he was fascinated by Australian plants, and collected 120 different species in the area. These preserved plant specimens are now in the National Herbarium Melbourne.

The Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project is about finding the same species in the area, and then creating a watercolour painting of them. This September will be the fifth year that we have been going up there. We are also organising an exhibition of the paintings and the project.

There is lots more information about the Project and the Burke and Wills Expedition on our website. Or you might like to look at my category Beckler’s Botanical Bounty, which shows my earlier posts about my involvement in the Project.

The Tourist Information Centre (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Post Office (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Heads down, finding lovely plant treasures

Carved poles (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

The Fella and I are packing up the van. It suits us to take a lot of food with us. So I have been cooking and freezing meals, as well as packing the perishables. We have checked the things we keep in the van, like crockery and cutlery and pots and all that other stuff. Naturally I have lists and more lists to make sure we have everything and get everything done. The Fella is  ‘belts and braces’ man, so we have more than we could possibly need!

Today I am checking the most important things ~ my art supplies. When I went to Flinders Island earlier in the year I was hampered by a small luggage allowance and I wasn’t sure what I would be doing there. This trip I have the van and the car to fill up with things! Also I know what I will be doing and what I will need, and not need.

My work table in the Civic Hall in Menindee (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2014)

Hard at work in the Hall (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2014)

Work spaces. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2014)

So there is organising the things we need to take. As well there is sorting out things at home. I have to leave things tidy for my nephew who is house sitting, and it would be good to get him a little bit of wardrobe space! You know the usual “I’m going away for a little while” things ~ organising bills and catching up with friends and and finalising other projects and so on.

Another on my “need to make sure I do before I go”list was to organise my paintings for an exhibition. The drop off date was when I was away, so I am asking a friend to take them for me. That meant making sure I had them from the framer, checking the paper work, getting them to her. I will leave you with photos of the paintings. I decided that these frilly oyster shells needed a more ornate frame that usual, and I think I was right.

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2015)

Plants to paint

The Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Group have just spent a wonderful week in the Civic Hall in Menindee. We pile our tables full of microscopes and paint brushes and papers and plant specimens kept in all sorts of unusual containers. Take away coffee cups make excellent plant holders, but one artist had an old glass clag jar to stand her specimen in.

I have two plants that I am looking forward to painting. One is an upright species of the Cullen genus, Cullen australasicum I found it growing on the Menindee/Broken Hill Road, just past the Copi Hollow turn off. When I say “on the road” I mean right in the crack of the road between the bitumen and the verge, with parts of it flopping onto the road! It must love the runoff from the camber of the road.

Here is a closer look at my showy plant.

My other plant is far less of a drama queen. It is Pimelea trichostachya. It has a stem that grows straight from the sandy soil and then branches. Each of the new stems has a fluffy head instead of petals as we usually think a flower has. It is quite a sweetie.

And a close up, in the take away coffee cup 🙂

I have drawn both plants onto tracing paper, done colour swatches and taken lots of photos. So when I get back to Melbourne I should be ready to get the paintings underway.

Cullen, Australian wildflowers

Now that you have had a chance to get up to date with the Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Project…..[What, you don’t know what I am talking about? Have a look in the Beckler’s Botanical Bounty category to the right of this page]……I am going to introduce you to the group of flowers that I am painting.

They are Cullens.

Everyone knows Banksias and Grevillias, and many of us have them growing in our gardens. But whenever I say that I am painting Cullens people have a polite but blank look. There are 4 species of Cullen on Beckler’s list. [Hermann Beckler collected plants while in Menindee on the Burke and Wills Expedition. It is his list of 120 plants that we are trying to replicate.] So, let me show you my beauties.

The first is Cullen discolor. This is the species that I have been painting. I will show you what I have been up to in later posts. C. discolor is very prostrate, growing out from a central point. [Botanical practice writes the Latin names in italics, capitalises the genus name, in this case Cullen, and allows it to be abbreviated after the first mention.]

C. discolor (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

C. discolor (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

Close up of C. discolor (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

The next, Cullen australasicum was so difficult to find. Although it is an upright bush, I could not see it growing anywhere. Then, as it goes with these things, I saw bushes of them all along the Menindee/Broken Hill Road as we were leaving!

C. australasicum growing prolifically beside the road. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

The flower of C. australasicum, from a specimen that someone else found for me. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

The third, Cullen pallidum, is probably the most showy and, while being no relation,  reminds people of a lavender.

Cullen pallidum growing by the side of the road in Kinchega National Park. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

The soft, showy flowers of C. pallidum. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2011)

You have probably noticed a couple of defining characteristics of this genus. Firstly, the flower places it in the pea family, Fabaceae. You can see those distinctive ‘wings’ and ‘keels’ that pea flowers have. However, they don’t have pods like eating peas do. You can see how the seeds are still in their furry individual pods.

Secondly you will have noticed the leaves. Cullens have 3 leaflets (trifoliate), two lateral ones and the third that is a little distant from them. The leaflets have definite veins, which give the leaves a lovely folded look ~ wonderful to paint! They are also quite textured. This is protection from the harsh inland Australian sun.

While I had trouble finding these species, they are not rare in the area around Menindee, NSW. It is more a matter of knowing where to look, or plain luck 🙂 and some seasons are better than others. In 2011 I saw many, large plants of C. pallidum but they haven’t been so prolific in later years. However, Cullens in Victoria are now rare, with many species endangered.

Menindee

As I mentioned before, I am becoming very fond of Menindee. It seems to be a town that people in the area think highly of, and want it to succeed. So many towns are dying and we loose the places that have shaped communities. The people in those communities have to move to larger towns and cities, and the character of the area is lost.

In Menindee there are people that give hope. Margot is an excellent Shire representative. The Resource Centre is that — a resource, with a computer hub and small library, both available for anyone to use. Necessary admin functions, like CentreLink are run from here. Margot is our go-to-person, who hires out the hall to us and organises our wifi. And she welcomes us each year!

Information Centre is another great resource. It also has a small art gallery. This year it had an exhibition of a local artist, Annette Minchin. She does wonderful textile work, using fabrics and found objects to represent the countryside.

The women in the supermarket have got it up an running, with a variety of food. I was impressed to know that I could make sushi if I wanted to! John is opening up a pizza restaurant, where he will continue to make his excellent coffee.

There is a monthly market. I love markets and was delighted to chat with the guy selling produce from the school, the lady who makes relishes, jams and cakes — and delicious lamingtons — and Bruce selling his plants. Margot was there too. I don’t know how she finds the time to sew the bags and aprons she was selling.

The town is lucky that it has the draw cards of the Darling River, the Menindee Lakes system and the Kinchega National Park. But it is even luckier to have these, and no doubt many other people who give it a helping hand.

Some Menindee photos

Carved poles (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

The Tourist Information Centre (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

The 4 wheel drive wheelbarrow! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Post Office (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Menindee house (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Coffee shop and bait shop!  Where John currently makes his coffee. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Produce from the school (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Look at those radishes! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Menindee, outback New South Wales

Keep heading north from Mildura and you reach Broken Hill. Then turn south-east along the Menindee Road, drive for about 100 kms or about an hour to come to the township of Menindee.

Menindee is a small country town in outback NSW. It isn’t the sort of place you just stumble across — you have to know that that’s where you are going. However, lots of people have found it, including Burke and Wills. In 1860 their expedition spent a few months here, as it is where Burke established the supply camp.

The aim of the Expedition was to discover an inland route from the south of Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. I have written about the Expedition before. So, if you are interested, have a look here. A new plaque has been put up outside the Maidens Hotel, where Burke and Wills stayed. This is the map of their journey, from the plaque.

The route of Burke, Wills, Grey and King. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

The new plaque, outside the Maidens Hotel 

It was because of the Burke and Wills Expedition that the Fella and I headed to Menindee. A group of botanic artists, including myself, have a project to collect (with permission) and then paint the specimens that were collected at Menindee by the doctor on the Expedition, Hermann Beckler. We call ourselves Beckler’s Botanical Beauts. Again, to find out more information about Beckler and my involvement, have a look here.

Can there really be interesting plants here?

The country is dry, red dirt. As you drive along it seems like only saltbushes and the occasional scrubby tree grow here. What’s to find there? Well, plenty. Beckler collected 120 specimens, and that was only some of the species that are out here. Many of the plants are small, growing up in the protection of the bushier ones; or they creep along the ground. Once you stop to look, you can see lots of beauties.

Or here?

It’s a landscape that doesn’t look very promising.

 

 

 

 

 

But once you get out and look, there is plenty to see,

like these…

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

Heads down, finding lovely plant treasures

Next time I will tell you more about the town of Menindee. It was my third year of staying here, and I am becoming very fond of it.

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.