February 13th, 2017

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 Paintings for my exhibition. Opens Friday 10th March. Gulp! At my painting table.  Gulls wait companionably in a little watercolour, a New Holland Honeyeater chatters away and seemingly eyes the Marri inflorescence. The Marri, or Redgum, is flowering reasonably heavily in our forests of southwestern Australia this summer, the honey fragrance is delectable.  Wonderful to see as each flower, if fertilized, becomes in its turn, a honky nut which is primary food for our endangered forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.  The BCs need 100 honky nuts per day.    These are Grandmother Trees and should be revered as such because they support a myriad life from the infinitely tiny insect species to honey possums and also provide refuge and nesting hollows for many creatures.  ​So good people, go out and plant a Marri!