Lately, I've noticed that my studio practice (and also my brain) seems to operate in two very different directions.
One minute I'm working on one of my figurative paintings, happily making things up as I go. I'm inventing a face, changing the colours of someone's hair, adding flowers that don't exist, putting together pieces of a story that only makes sense in my head. I love that part of painting. There is something incredibly satisfying about being able to decide, well, what if it looked like this instead?
And then, inevitably, I find myself wanting to go in completely the opposite direction.
I start looking closely at a plant.
And suddenly I'm fascinated by the tiny details. The way a leaf curves. The little variations in colour. The veins and shadows. The subtle differences between one part of a plant and another.
That's one of the things I love about botanical painting. It asks me to slow down and really look.
There is a funny tension in my work between these two things: the desire to paint something accurately and carefully, and the desire to completely make something up, and apparently, I need both.
So I've been bouncing back and forth between my figurative work and botanical painting, and lately the botanical side has been winning a little more of my attention.
I've been making some very small botanical paintings for an upcoming show called Positively Petite at Place des Arts in Coquitlam, and I'm planning to apply to the show with a little collection of pink variegated plants. The show happens every year and since 2021, I've been a part of it each time!
They're tiny paintings, which makes the whole process feel a little different. There isn't much room for unnecessary marks, so I find myself paying even more attention to the shapes, colour shifts and little details. I also find it incredibly satisfying to create something so realistic in such a small scale.
And, of course, working on these has reminded me how much I enjoy teaching botanical watercolour too.
That's actually what we'll be doing in my upcoming Botanical Studies workshop on August 19.
This isn't really about painting a perfect botanical illustration. Instead, we'll use botanical subjects as a way to slow down, observe, experiment with colour, and explore all those little details that can make a painting feel alive.
We'll look at colour mixing, including some of those surprisingly difficult botanical colours, and talk about materials, techniques for painting delicately, and observation skills to really look at the plants in front of us. And that is the best part: we are going to paint from LIFE!
We'll also spend some time treating our paintings as studies rather than worrying about creating a finished masterpiece. You can zoom in on a detail, explore a particular leaf, experiment with your colours, and really pay attention to what you're seeing.
It's a lovely way to spend a few hours painting, especially if you enjoy the quieter, more observational side of watercolour.
If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'd love to have you join me.
August 19, 2026 | 6:00-9:00 PM | Wildfires Bookshop in New Westminster
