Story behind the art of Halina Steele

26th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Mongarlowe Mallee

Eucalyptus recurva

I am very fortunate that I inherited my artistic talent from my parents: my father was an excellent artist and my mother created amazing dresses and jumpers for my siblings and me without using patterns. She transformed old potato hessian bags into beautiful tapestries with nothing more than scraps of leftover wool and an idea in her mind. She also introduced me to gardening, opening a fascinating world of flowers and plants.

With gardening, I developed a love of natural history. The beauty and complexity of natural forms and the fragility of life fascinate me. With my paintings, I endeavor to capture the vibrancy of nature, the various interesting textures, and the intricate structures of flora and fauna.

I am intrigued by each aspect of the plant and its cycles: from the buds and new shoots to the fruit, seed and dying leaves. Being passionate about nature, I find inspiration wherever I look. I love the uniqueness and diversity of Australian native flora and fauna. With worldwide focus on climate change and its effect on the environment, I am especially interested in the conservation of rare and endangered flora and fauna.

I first came across Eucalyptus recurva several years ago when I was researching Australian eucalyptus mallees (“mallee” is an indigenous name for multi-stemmed eucalypts growing from a lignotuber.) Eucalyptus recurva, or Mongarlowe mallee, was discovered in 1985 and can only be found in the Windellama and Mongarlowe regions of the New South Wales Southern Tablelands. It’s listed as Critically Endangered under the Australian Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999; the NSW Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016; and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

After learning how endangered and rare this species is, my interest was piqued and I decided I had to paint it. A former co-worker put me in touch with Robert Gourlay who owns a property near one of the sites in the Mongarlowe area. Not long after the Mongarlowe mallee had been discovered, John Briggs, who was the rare eucalypt expert at the Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation at the time, invited Rob along on a visit to the plant growing near his property.

John gave Rob four seedlings from his original experiments, and they are still growing on Rob’s property today. Also, at the time of his first visit to the plant, Rob collected small pieces of the lignotuber that had been partly dislodged. One of the lignotuber pieces took root and produced a healthy plant. It is from one of these plants that I executed this painting.

The distance from where I live in Canberra to Rob’s property, although not great, (about a two-hour drive) presented a challenge in that if I needed to check on a particular aspect of the plant, it was a bit too far to just “pop out.” So I made copious notes and took numerous photos with the hope that I’d captured sufficient information to complete the painting.

I fell in love with this plant as soon as I laid eyes on it. When I started planning the composition, I wanted to give the viewer a glimpse of how exquisite Eucalyptus recurva is with its dark green leaves (which, being small and recurved, are quite different from most other eucalypts) and the stark contrast to the delicate white flowers. The orangey-colored bark which peels and curls adds to the plant’s beauty making a striking feature on its own. At the same time, I wanted to show its vulnerability and how close to extinction it is.

Work continues to save this plant. Hopefully, these attempts will prove successful in the near future, and we will see this amazing plant growing in home gardens.

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