Behind The Design: Spring Flowers
Finding the right flower...
Flowers have been a much-loved source of inspiration for illustrators for centuries, from historical botanical studies to the decorative motifs of the Arts and Crafts movement.
English gardens play a huge part in helping me find just the right flower to draw from. Drawing from life is essential to my process, allowing me to truly understand their form, scale and subtle colour variations – something that photographs simply can’t capture. Observing them first hand helps me translate their natural beauty into a simplified yet recognisable form for spongeware printing.
However, when I just can’t find the right flower that I’m looking for, I will always turn to W. Keble Martin’s The Concise British Flora. The beautifully illustrated botanicals help me understand each flower’s ‘telling lines’ – the essential details that make each bloom instantly recognisable. This is the biggest challenge when drawing for spongeware, I am always tempted to add more and more detail, but simplicity is the key to our spongeware pattern’s charm.
