Floral Illustration at The Wall Street Journal

I played hooky this weekend. I was supposed to be indoors creating those Wall Street Journal type illustrations, but, instead, found myself reclaiming garden spaces from the rapacious wisteria, hacking back the pre-emergent lilac, and pruning major dead-wood from our corkscrew willow tree. The weather here in Southern New Jersey was incredibly Spring-like for February, and my main squeeze and I were in sweat-of-the-brow mode. Life is good.So... I was inspired to render a seasonal post this week. Back in my office-worker days, while I diligently performed my WSJ activities, requests often came in for botanical illustrations. I created several of these, but share two with you here. I am happy with the way these turned out, and credit my love of horticulture for the result. Drawing these floral illustrations was a refreshing break from some of the usual suspects!The Hibiscus FlowerThe Tiger LilyBeyond my working on staff at The Wall Street Journal, I retained my interest in the floral genre. The garden surrounding our home includes some beautiful irises, and I thought I would try to capture a small part of their beauty with this image...Always a fan of the grand concept, I dreamed up this illustration...I was trying to convey the conquest of Divine Nature, asserting her wise dominance over the follies of man. I remember this as I recall the sun shining down on my face this weekend, attempting to tame the botanical wildlife around me.