Illustration

I’ve always been obsessed with plants. There are flowers from my childhood home that I remember with more clarity than my early birthday parties or friends. Yellow garden roses grew up the trellis of our back patio. We had a small lilac tree whose blossoms I would bury my nose into every spring. I managed to spend countless and pointless hours poring over all the names and descriptions of bulbs in Breck catalogs. I was the sole borrower of the “How to Draw Flowers” book from my elementary school library, many times.

Twenty years later, I looked up from my career as a tech executive and realized that some part of my life seemed to be passing me by. I was fortunate (and crazy) enough in 2016 to be able to take a “creative sabbatical” to invest time in a few creative pursuits that I was feeling curious about, and that’s where my botanical art journey began. I started taking courses as part of the NYBG’s botanical illustration certificate program - a very rigorous program with a vibrant community. I was hooked from the first class, which started me off on a very simple foundation that I am building on every day: how to really look at flowers.