Halina Steele

In 2001 inspired by a book written by a renowned UK botanical illustrator, Halina took up watercolours. Her love of nature and gardening motivated her to undertake workshops in wildlife and botanical illustration. With her paintings, Halina endeavours to capture the vibrancy of nature, the various interesting textures and the intricate and complex structures of flora and fauna. Being passionate about nature, she constantly finds inspiration wherever she looks. Halina loves Australian native flora and fauna for its uniqueness and diversity and has recently developed a strong focus on the environment, especially the conservation of rare and endangered flora and fauna. She has painted several rare and endangered species including Eucalyptus recurva, Hakea pulvinifera, Hibiscus insularis and Grevillea iaspicula to name a few.

Halina has exhibited in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, the UK and USA. In May 2015, Halina was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Malvern UK and Best Botanical Art Exhibit for a series of six Australian Eucalyptus Mallees. In addition, the RHS purchased one of these works (Eucalyptus recurva) for their permanent collection at the Lindley Library London. She was awarded a Silver Medal by the RHS London for a series of eight paintings depicting Australian Native Hibiscus in November 2004. Halina has also received awards from the Wildlife and Botanical Artists Inc for her botanical paintings and has had works accepted for the 12^th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. These works now form part of the Institute’s permanent collection. In July 2007, Halina was invited to become a member of the Florilegium Society at the RBGSyd Inc (Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney) resulting in one of her paintings being held in the permanent collection of the Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, NSW. This painting also appears in the publication, The Florilegium: Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Celebrating 200 Years. She is also a member of the Botanical Art Society of Australia Inc, Wildlife and Botanical Artists Inc and the American Society of Botanical Artists.