Her fourth publication, The Essential Audrey Eagle: Botanical art of New Zealand (Te Papa Press) contains 163 illustrations from her magisterial two-volume Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand (2006) for which she won the 2007 Montana Medal for Non-Fiction.
She started painting New Zealand native plants in 1952 and earlier volumes were published in 1975 and 1982. She was awarded an honorary doctorate earlier this year.
Before the two-volume book was published, she says she had to touch up some of the early paintings as the greens had changed. It was always difficult to match the green of the leaves and many greens were fugitive, she said.
However, she decided it didn't matter if the greens in the paintings, deposited in the Turnbull Library, changed over time as long as the paintings were right for reproduction in her books.
Now 88, she says she has not painted for two or three years as she has been working on a family history, but she hopes to start again.
''I decided I'd live to 90, but now I want to put it off,'' she said with a laugh.
She hopes the new Essential will reach more people than the expensive two-volume Complete which had more than 800 paintings.
Freebies
The Otago Daily Times has a copy of The Essential Audrey Eagle to give away. To enter the draw for one, write your name, address and daytime phone number on the back of an envelope and send it to The Essential Audrey Eagle, Editorial Features, Response Bag 500010, Dunedin, or email playtime@odt.co.nz with The Essential Audrey Eagle in the subject line, to arrive before noon on October 29.
