The Quintessential Bird

Betty Temple Watts (19011992) 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 f