A fine line

Story by Tammy Huynh

Finding solace in the garden is something we all do, but for this artist, the plants also became her muse, serving as inspiration for her art.

Seven years ago, Neva Hosking moved to Sydney from Perth and developed an obsession with rare tropical plants. It was a chance sighting of the velvety textured Philodendron melanochrysum in one of the glasshouses at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney that sparked the fascination.

“The ‘melano’ was unlike any plant I’ve ever seen before, especially the way it shimmered in the light,” says Neva. The appeal of this particular plant not only started Neva’s love affair with collecting plants, but also inspired her to draw them.

Given Neva’s artistic background – she is a recent graduate of the National Art School – it’s easy to understand why she was inspired to put pen to paper. “I’ve been drawing and doodling since I was young… it’s how I express myself,” she says. Her beautifully intricate drawings are a labour of love, each line painstakingly articulated by her preferred medium, a biro (ballpoint pen). “I’ve always liked the biro and line work. One simple line can express so much, and it can be built on to convey light and texture,” she says.

The focus of Neva’s earlier drawings were people, but it shifted to plants with the purchase of her first melano plant. “I became obsessed with trying to capture the iridescence of the leaves,” she says. During this time, Neva’s plant collection expanded to include other philodendrons and velvet-leaved anthuriums. It was becoming an expensive hobby, with many aroids at the time selling for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of dollars.

At the height of the pandemic, Neva sold one of her rare aroids (Philodendron sagittifolium syn. P. islemanii). This funded the purchase of a 24m² greenhouse to house her aroid collection and her new love: begonias. It started with a Begonia burkillii (dark form) from begonia specialist and hybridiser Bernard Yorke. “I saw it and was immediately obsessed with its foliage,” says Neva. “Under the right light, it glimmers blue, just like the night sky.”

The blue is an adaptation in response to the plant’s native habitat, the deep shade of the rainforest floor. The low-light conditions cause the leaves to reflect blue wavelengths of light (what we see), allowing it to better absorb red-green light, which is the abundant form of light that’s available on the poorly lit forest floor.

Given the size and unassuming nature of these begonias, their ethereal beauty can be easily missed unless you take the time to look for it. “The pandemic gave me a lot of time to stare at things really intently and take in all the little details,” says Neva. “I was inspired to translate what I saw onto a larger scale, throwing all the subtleties into the spotlight, to highlight their underrated beauty.”

Despite the rich colours of the plants, Neva remains devoted to her biro and monochromatic depictions. “I struggle with colour,” she admits. “I find it overwhelming and prefer to focus on the form, light and lines.” This forces the viewer to hone in on the details, appreciating the intricacy of each stroke to create the texture, pattern and striking opposition of light and dark.

The paper Neva uses is important, too. She uses vintage graph paper, collected from paper-redundant businesses. “There are logos, business names, phone numbers; I like the stories they tell,” says Neva. “My dad used to fix photocopy machines and would bring home paper for us kids to use, so maybe that has something to do with it as well.” The gridded sheets also give the effect of looking through a window, like peering into Neva’s greenhouse.

Her recent solo show, ‘The Last Garden on Loftus Crescent’ at N.Smith Gallery in Sydney, was a collection of the drawings she made during the pandemic. It was a sentimental offering too, serving as a documentary of her garden, which is due to be demolished to make way for high-rise buildings. While she’s nostalgic about her garden, Neva plans to head north, and is looking forward to drawing inspiration from a whole new landscape and climate in Queensland.