I have a fascination for our native waratah flowers and while I regularly have local New South Wales waratahs in the house when they are in season I had only seen paintings and photos of Tasmanian waratahs, until this latest trip to the beautiful southern isle.
Walking home from dinner after bumping out from the Tasmanian Craft Fair I came across a bundle of waratahs and other flowers that had been cleared out from one of the venues (the Craft Fair had 16 venues!) . I was amazed to find beautiful waratahs on this pile waiting for rubbish collection.
So I broke off three flower stems and took them home to my B&B, amazed to be seeing my first real life Tasmanian waratahs – telopea truncata.
In the morning I woke to seeing these captivating flowers and decided I had to try photographing them. They are notoriously difficult flowers to photograph well enough to show off their real beauty. I’ve tried many times over the years – in colour and black and white, with film and digital cameras.
My room had wonderful light with the big bay windows and the breakfast table set to take advantage of the rolling views of the Great Western Tiers.
Close up detail of these rich red flowers.
Vibrant colour contrast between the waratah flowers and the leaves.
Love the detail.
Waratah tree in a backyard at Hadspen.
Showing the regrowth that comes from the flowering season.
My hope is to one day grow flourishing waratah plants of different varieties, including the rare white waratah.
These beautiful flowers have been playing on my mind, stimulating my inspiration and design eye. It’s taken a few days but I now have a clear idea how to incorporate these unique native flowers into new jewellery designs. So stay tuned!
In the mean time, I’ll simply enjoy these stunning flowers and keep creating.
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