The Journal
Notes from
the studio.
Editorial pieces on Australian native flora, heritage architecture, natural specimens, and the practice of slow colouring at folio scale. New entries arrive at their own pace.
- · Native flora
The Western Australian wildflower season, month by month
The largest wildflower bloom on earth is not an event but a front, moving south across Western Australia for six months. A guide to where it is, when, and why the southwest produces flowers on this scale at all.
6 min read · Read on →
- · Studio notes
Why folio scale rewards slow attention
On the relationship between the size of a plate and the way the hand moves across it. A short essay on why A4 folio remains the most useful page for colouring at a considered pace.
5 min read · Read on →
- · Native flora
How to identify a eucalypt by its bark
Eucalypts hold their flowers out of reach and their leaves overhead, but the bark is at eye level all year. A short guide to the seven bark types that carry most of the identification.
7 min read · Read on →
- · Studio notes
Choosing paper for high-resolution PDF colouring books
A short guide to the paper weights, finishes, and sizes that work for printing folio-scale plates at home, and the trade-offs between each option.
5 min read · Read on →
- · Heritage architecture
Robin Boyd's bushland houses: a short field guide
How the most influential Australian architect of the post-war period rewrote what a suburban house could look like, and what to look for if one of his houses appears on a Melbourne street.
6 min read · Read on →
- · Natural specimens
A field guide to Australian beetles you can find in your garden
Six common beetles likely to turn up in an Australian suburban garden, with the visual cues that distinguish them and a note on what each one is doing there.
5 min read · Read on →
- · Heritage architecture
Reading a Queenslander
Elevated timber, wrap-around verandahs, and a roofline pitched for monsoon, the distinctive vernacular of the Queensland house, and why it looks the way it does.
5 min read · Read on →
- · Native flora
Hakea or Grevillea: how to tell them apart
Both belong to the Proteaceae family and both are widely planted across Australian gardens. The difference is in the fruit, not the flower.
4 min read · Read on →
- · Natural specimens
Five things to look for in a rockpool
A short field guide to the most rewarding sightings on an Australian rocky shore, in roughly the order you'll spot them as the tide drops.
6 min read · Read on →
- · Native flora
Five banksias every Australian gardener can recognise
A short field guide to the most commonly planted Australian banksias: how their cones, leaves, and flower spikes differ, and where each tends to grow.
4 min read · Read on →
- · Heritage architecture
How to read a Federation terrace facade
A short guide to the structural and decorative elements that distinguish a Federation-era terrace house from its Victorian and Edwardian neighbours.
5 min read · Read on →