I was delighted to be asked by Flow Magazine to make some illustrations for a friendship book, that would be in the Dutch special edition, and now the English copy too. I love their thoughtful articles, good design and great curation of illustration. It was very peaceful and enjoyable painting all these leaves and flowers and twigs. I think they did a lovely job making this little book which you can pull out and keep that celebrates and explores important friendships.
I collected and sketched blossoming twigs from the hedgerows where we live in my brush pen and I also looked at a lot of vintage botanical paintings for inspiration. I felt particularly inspired by Mary Delany’s 18th-century paper cuts after finding a book about her in our local library. I then painted these illustrations in gouache and ink and added a few tiny extra details here and there in coloured pencil.
Here’s a fun video that shows what’s inside this special edition!
I was also guest pinner for flow magazine in April, in case you are curious about what else inspires me, take a look here!