About Athenie:
Athenie Leckey is an emerging Melbourne artist who mainly paints Australian native flora. Her current flora of choice are the many species of Banksias. There are 79 banksias of them described in the book ‘BANKSIAS’ by Collins, Collins & George. There’s nothing like a covid lockdown challenge! I am being distracted by some very pretty Banksia though and find that I am painting them more than once. It is going to take me just that bit longer to finish the list!
I create floral works to be surrounded by native blooms. I want them in my garden, my street, my vases, my paintings, my work. I admire the strength of the larger blooms, the wooded stems, the tough leaves, the robust flower head but closer inspection shows the soft downy edge of a petal, or a curled serrated edge of a leaf, or a seed pod that has burst to eject its seed to start the regeneration process again.
Athenie works with paper, ink, paint and mixed media on paper and canvas, collaging both digitally and manually, currently focusing on Australian flora in acrylics and learning portraiture in oils.