I found it interesting painting the Tree Waratah for several reasons: The flowers are immensely complicated, and it was an interesting challenge to decipher and understand how the bloom was formed. During the flowering season and from a distance the trees look like red beacons in the landscape. Closer up, the colour of the flowers is not so red, but a mixture or orange, red and hot pink. I picked the flowers that I have painted from beside a railway line where there must have been about 20 or more spectacular trees. The Tree Waratah is part of the Proteaceae family, is a native of the Australian rainforest and flowers in November and December.