Athenie Leckey: 79 Banksias

Athenie Leckey’s interpretive acrylic painting series of 79 Banksias began its journey in the early stages of the pandemic but became a serious focus after discovering the book ‘Banksias’, written by Kevin and Kathy Collins and Alex George. Leckey’s illustrative stylised banksias are painted in accordance to the flower spikes and leaf information diligently recorded by the authors. The seed cones are a point of colourful whimsy and the backgrounds acknowledge the land these beautiful plants were created in.

The artist’s interest was piqued on realising that a banksia was not just a shrub with yellow tubular shaped flowers and sawtooth leaves. Banksias are trees, shrubs, prostrates (ground-hugging) and ground cover. Flower spikes range from about 3cm high to 40cm, most are upright but some are pendulous, they can have a vertical axis, be round or have cone shaped clusters, and range in colour from green to cream, yellow, orange, red and purple.