A poor photograph of a spectacular specimen with six attached leaves. This specimen is one of thousands of botanical fossils curated at the MEF.

This summer, I enjoyed the good fortune of working with Ray Carpenter, a world-class paleopalynologist, while studying the Río Pichileufú collection curated at the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF) in Trelew, Argentina. Better known for discovering the largest dinosaur in the world, this fantastic museum curates some of the most significant (and beautiful) paleobotanical collections in the Southern Hemisphere. Working side-by-side with Ray in one of the museum’s labs, we often were so absorbed in our work that we spoke little. Yet, we often found time during lunch to share our interest in Earth’s changing environments. It’s funny how life works, I was sitting with Ray thousands of miles from home on the other side of the world, and there I learned about Paula Peeter’s, an ecological artist, who lives thousands of miles away in Australia.

A coloring page from Paula’s Bimblebox Wonderland.

Paula combined her Ph.D. in ecology with her talent and love of the arts to create an entirely new way of capturing and communicating the ecological stories that forests tell. Her ecologically accurate forest portraits, allow us to view the very different traits of individual forests just as we would when looking at portraits of people. I was captured by her artwork and perspective. Not only did I immediately purchase one of her prints, but I found a large portrait frame to display the work authentically. Every time I look at Paula’s print, I feel as if I recognize that gum tree forest, just as if it were a good friend. Thank you Paula!

 

One of a number of Paula’s educational cartoons. To see more of Paula’s ecological art and nature journaling, check out her site, Paperbark Writer.

 

The flooded gum forest portrait that is framed in my study and keeps me company as I work.