Watch Can We Help in high quality on iViewwatch on iView Why did
the works of Ellis Rowan cause such a stir? Judy, SA Michael
Morton-Evans, co-author of ‘The Flower Hunter’ speaks to us
about Ellis Rowan and her art. [Michael] Ellis Rowan was born in
1848 and was originally a small, petite Victorian lady who
suddenly blossomed into the most incredible intrepid feisty
woman you could imagine Ellis had an appreciation of natural
history and art, interests well suited to the popular pastime of
Victorian ladies … flower painting, but Ellis Rowan was not
content to sit in a drawing room and paint posies. [Michael] She
considered herself to be more than just an artist. She didn’t
just paint flowers, she found them. She was the flower hunter.
Constantly seeking new subjects Ellis Rowan travelled to remote
areas of Australia and New Guinea, using watercolour to record
native flora and fauna. [Michael] The colour in them, the
vibrancy of them, it just hits you ... and the accuracy and the
detail. She had such skill th