Banksia

With more than 170 species endemic to Australia, banksias appear in an extraordinary variety of forms across the country. Their flower spikes are made up of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of tiny individual flowers, creating the rich texture and structure that makes them so recognisable.

For Meryl, that sculptural quality offered wonderful material to paint, from the rhythmic form of their leaves to the dense flower heads and seed cones. Her interpretations bring out both the strength and fine detail of a plant that feels completely at home in the Australian landscape.