Download or read book The Quintessential Bird written by Viola Temple Watts and published by National Library Australia. This book was released on 2011 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Betty Temple Watts (1901-1992) developed an interest in birds in her early married life while living in Iran and Papua New Guinea. Although she had studied art formally as a nineteen year old, it was not until she was 48, and settled in Melbourne, that she decided to immerse herself in her bird art.Betty spent much of her time practising drawing, but was constantly critical of the results. In spite of her harsh selfjudgement, others had a high opinion of her skill and, in 1952, she received her first commission, going on to provide bird illustrations for numerous publications until she was in her late eighties. The Quintessential Bird allows readers a glimpse into Betty's joyous world of birds. This is followed by the plates, reproduced in full along with 60 close-ups of individual birds.