Judy Morris

After a long career as a neuroscience researcher, I became a full time artist in 2009, representing the world around me in fine detail and larger than life sized drawings. Plants in my garden and the nearby parks and bushland quickly became some of my favourite subjects, and I often follow the life cycle of individual plants. Using graphite and coloured pencil, I enjoy rendering fascinating plant forms and textures at the macroscopic and microscopic scale.

I have held four solo exhibitions and have been a finalist in local, national and international prize exhibitions, including the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. My 2015 exhibition ‘Floribunda’ included poems by Ian Gibbins inspired by my botanical artworks, which were published together in an accompanying book. In 2019 I was awarded ‘Best in Show’ in the Botanical Art Society of Australia’s ‘Flora’ exhibition in Chatswood, NSW.

Acacia anceps

Two edged wattle

$1200

Coloured pencil

530 x 530 mm

Acacia anceps, the two edged wattle, is a native of coastal dunes on the west coast of South Australia and the south east coast of Western Australia. This specimen was in flower last November on the tip of Yorke Peninsula, near the eastern edge of its range. The thick leathery phyllodes are adapted to a windy location in the sand dunes and aid the plant’s drought resistance. The flower heads characteristically sit on broad stalks that are angled to the main stem. This drawing was done in coloured pencil on 100% cotton rag, at about 2.5 times life size.

Dianthus barbatus 'Green Trick'

Sweet William

$1200

Coloured pencil

600 x 600 mm

Dianthus barbatus ‘Green Trick’ is a cultivar of the popular garden plant sweet william, and lacks the usual colourful petals. It is sometimes called Green Trick carnation. The compact and complex form of the flower heads provides a challenge for the eager botanical artist to render! This was drawn with coloured pencil on 100% cotton rag at approximately 3 times life size.

Podolepis rugata subsp. trullata

Pleated daisy

$1500

Coloured pencil

710 x 580 mm

This native daisy of coastal dunes in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park at the tip of South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula has recently been described as a new subspecies of Podolepis rugata subsp. trullata, or pleated daisy. The subspecies name refers to the ‘trowel shape’ of the leafy bracts around the flower head. This pleated daisy has a very limited range, occurring only in the National Park and a few nearby islands. I documented it in flower last November. Here it is drawn with coloured pencil on 100% cotton rag at approximately twice life size.