Wildflower Walk – Rectangle Paper Print

Wildflower Walk is part of A Walk in the Wildflowers, a deeply personal exhibition by Helen Ansell inspired by the years she spent exploring the Australian bush with her father, Don Miller. The collection follows a lifetime of shared experiences, from childhood at Ululla to their annual wildflower walks around Mullewa, where each season revealed a changing display of native flora.

At the centre of the painting is the Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), one of Australia’s best-known native mammals. Found across much of the country, echidnas use their strong claws to dig for ants and termites and are covered in protective spines formed from modified hairs. They are commonly found in a wide range of habitats, including woodlands, heath and the wildflower-rich landscapes of Western Australia’s Midwest.

From Helen

Some of my happiest memories with Dad were our weekly wildflower walks around Mullewa. We’d pack the homemade picnic set he had made and spend the day exploring the bush together, stopping whenever we found an interesting flower, plant or view. Every season brought something different, and there was always another reason to keep walking.

The wildflowers were always the reason for our outings, but I couldn’t resist including one of Australia’s most iconic native animals amongst them. The echidna felt perfectly at home in this landscape, wandering through the flowers just as you might hope to find one while exploring the bush. This painting brings together the places, plants and wildlife that made those days so memorable.