Valerie Richard's painting in the Exhibition

Last year we ran a series of interviews with artists involved with the Beckler's Botanical Bounty Project. We hung many of those  paintings in our Exhibition in Menindee last year. Over the next few weeks we would like to show you blog posts of some of the finished works on display.


Valerie Richards has painted some of the eremophilas that were collected by Dr. Beckler. They are wonderful plants, commonly known as emu bushes. In her interview Valerie describes Eremophila sturtii and what attracted her to paint this dainty flower.

It has an absolute profusion of lilac, pink and cream flowers. It was these colours that attracted me at first. From a distance it looks like a green shrub. As you get to close to it you see the beautiful flowers. The impact of the colours was such a surprise. The shrub is symmetrical, attactive shape. It grows to 1 to 2 metres.

The full interview with Valerie is here.

Valerie's painting, the work in progress

You can see from the photo of her painting as it hung in the Exhibition (below right), her finished work included the habitat of E. sturtii, with the bush as well.

Left: Plantago drummondii; Right: E. sturtii (Art work copyright: Valerie Richards 2013)

By the time of the Exhibition Valerie had completed five paintings, the two above and three below. And they all looked stunning!

Left: E. deserti Right: Senna artemisioides subsp. x sturtii (Art work copyright: Valerie Richards 2013)

Arabidella trisecta (Art work copyright: Valerie Richards 2013)

Valerie's work hanging together 

Valerie Richards

Valerie Richards -- Botanic artist

Eremophila sturtii

Why did you get involved in the Project?
I was interested, but thought it might be too hot. So when the others came back after the first year and told me it was spring like weather I decided to take the plunge.

Valerie's work area (Photocopyright: Anne Lawson, 2013)

I came initially for the painting, but what surprised me was how much I liked wandering around looking for the plants. I really love the desert area.

Eremophila sturtii

What plant have you been working on this year?
I have 2 eremophilas. One is very charming and very pretty. We have only found a couple of specimens of one, so I wanted to capture it in case it is not around next year. Then it will be on the completed painting list.

The second it E. sturtii. It has an absolute profusion of lilac, pink and cream flowers. It was these colours that attracted me at first. From a distance it looks like a green shrub. As you get to close to it you see the beautiful flowers. The impact of the colours was such a surprise. The shrub is symmetrical, attactive shape. It grows to 1 to 2 metres.

Valerie's painting of E. sturtii (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2013)

How will you go about painting your plant?
I draw an accurate drawing of the specimen onto tracing paper, go over the drawing on the reverse of the tracing paper and then transfer it to the good copy paper. The painting is done with watercolour. I am still thinking about drawing in the microscopic details.