Harvard, Hibiscus and Hummingbirds

Using my surroundings to get inspired

I’m a member of the international group of picture book illustrators called Illoguild. Each month, we each answer a question here on Substack. For August, that question was: “How do you get inspired by your particular surroundings?”

My answer: Sketch from life (and death).

PART ONE: I’ve been taking illustration classes with Make Art That Sells for the past couple of years and our latest assignment had us researching flowers and illustrating them. I wasn’t particularly inspired by the first flower I chose, and was feeling a bit stuck, but then inspiration struck because I kept my eyes open to my surroundings.

I live and work in Massachusetts, about a half hour north of Boston, right on the coast. Today I saw these enormous hibiscus flowers in bloom in the garden in front of my art studio. Last week, I saw hummingbirds out in the garden. When I researched the hibiscus flower and found out that they attract hummingbirds, I thought combining these recent sightings would make for a great piece of art.

There’s really nothing like drawing from life. You can tell a lot from a photograph, but being able to move around your subject and analyze it from all angles really makes a difference. I did some quick observational drawings to understand how the petals of the flower formed and overlapped each other, how the leaves extended out and had three tips when mature. How the buds looked when fully closed and when partially open. I felt like I really understood my subject and that brought it to life on the page.

PART TWO: A couple of weeks ago, I went on an inspirational sketching trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I love this place. Stuffed creatures, fossils, skeletons, bugs, things in jars, gems and gemstones and intricate flowers made out of glass. I’m really lucky to live close enough to pop in for an hour and a half of sketching. Here are some of the results from that trip:

How do you use your surroundings for inspiration? What’s your favorite local museum? Let me know in the comments!