I am a botanist by trade and training, but I had originally planned on art school until I took a botany course and knew immediately that I wanted to spend my life in the field. My experience working as a botanist and in graduate school has led me to believe that biologists are the greatest romantics. I illustrate plants because they fascinate me and move me deeply, and to try to show others what I think draws botanists into the field of study: the little world in every plant you come across, the infinite variety of form and habit, the extravagance and complexity of morphology, and the overwhelming diversity of plant life, which is so profound and expansive that it couldn’t be explored in a single lifetime.

In my work, I try to present a botanically accurate representation of species native to California in a demonstrative manner with roots in scientific illustration, but more than that, I try to use the composition of each piece to play upon and emphasize the natural form and pattern found in plants: phyllotaxis (leaf arrangement), inflorescence structure (the flower-bearing parts of the plant and its arrangement), leaf shape and venation, and floral structure, pigmentation, and symmetry. I hope to demonstrate to viewers the intricacy and elegance of plant form and the patterns therein, which have inspired the devotion of botanists over centuries.

Flowers and plants are fundamental to the human experience; they are commonplace decorative elements, present in every sphere of human activity: they are interspersed in our mythos and symbology, essential to our survival, and somehow more easily overlooked for that; easily lost to us as a “green blur.” Botany is an increasingly sparse field to work in today, and those with an interest in it will find plants are primarily described with an esoteric vocabulary that sometimes distances people from the field, and in California, from a unique and unparalleled flora. For that reason, my hope is to convey to viewers what drew me to botany and share the fascination and sense of awe I have found in plants.