Ahead of starting an artist residency at the Auckland Botanical Gardens, painter Neal Palmer is about to unveil his largest paintings yet - of kauri, flax and magnolias. It's part of his 27th solo exhibition called Under the Surface. Since moving to New Zealand from London more than 20 years ago, Neal has been drawing, painting and photographing native plants and trees. At first glance, his paintings may look like simply faithful representations of our flora. But he's asking us to dig deeper, particularly to think about our fragile ecology. Lybnn Freeman took Neal Palmer back to his first impressions of Aotearoa. Neal Palmer's show Under the Surface opens at Tamaki Makarau's Föenander Galleries on Thursday 10 November.