Real imaginary flowers

And the art of noticing

I woke up one morning remembering an aspect of my work as a biological and zoological illustrator. Over several mornings, with the cat's support, I worked on this sketchbook page which is related to what I remembered.

I had remembered being asked by some of the professors of botany and zoology to give demonstrations and discussions of the use of art materials: watercolors and pens mostly. Often I ended up also talking about the courage needed to make marks on a blank page. The professors were stressing the role of attempting to draw or paint the subject of one’s study as a practical exercise towards the development of accurate skills of observation. So I would show the students how to mix paints, match colors¹ and so forth as it applied towards their goals of information gathering on location in the field while also encouraging them in their first efforts to draw and paint.

It helped to echo the professors and emphasize that the in-the-field botanical drawings the students were asked to do were not about self-expression, they weren't about doing “good" art gallery worthy drawings, it was a way of recording what they saw in real life and combining that with scientific research and refining their own thoughts.

Drawings on paper can have notes written on them in the field whereas photographs cannot. Drawings and paintings can be done to augment and enhance any photo documentation also done on location because the efforts to really look - as if you've never seen it before - that are necessary when one attempts to put pen or paint to paper to capture a subject can aid ones perceptions and understanding.

Here's an example of a finished botanical illustration. This drawing is by an anonymous artist/scientist. Please notice the addition, in the lower left corner, of information about the inside of the flower.

When I do my morning sketchbook work I am doing information gathering, too, but in a slightly different way. I am focused on gathering colors, lines, shapes and quotes that record my observations of my inner life, my life circumstances and the workings of my emotional intelligence. ²

For example my work in the sketchbook page below used the same kind of flowers as in the above botanical illustration but instead of realistic scientific type information I focused on my emotional perception of the big-poppy-density feeling of them. The bravado of them. The effervescent enthusiasm of them. The emotional information happening within my heart and mind as I looked at flowers is what I try to observe and document.

As a drawing the flowers are reasonably recognizable as what they are - even if they're not scientifically realistic. And though they are imaginary I take as much care in the painting of them as I would if I painted more realistically. It's a difference of emphasis.

The bird is wholly imaginary and is included along with the nests and eggs as a representative of the happiness and potential I perceive that results from the courage to be creative.

The quote was one I found in a book of quotes. I chose to include it for the brave courageous feeling of it that I felt matched with my feelings and thoughts about flowers.

I chose to collect these things in my sketchbook because it encouraged me now and might help me maintain my courage to reread this page someday.

Now that I think about it perhaps more efforts go into my imaginary characters than when I draw from reality because I apply my knowledge of real-life birds and plants in a more playful way.

Playful artistic expressions are examples of intelligence having fun.

Here's another sketchbook page from another series of mornings.

This sketchbook page too reflects, in both my choice of quote and my imaginary flower pattern, an inner feeling and conception I wanted to observe, understand and preserve.

We humans all too easily get into habits of mind, reserving things for “special occasions” and forgetting to use our observation skills or to develop our emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is our ability to observe accurately how we feel, to self-regulate and manage our emotions, to have social awareness and be able to cope with and relate well with other people and the world itself. This training begins at a young age and ideally it never stops - our emotional education as a lifelong pursuit. Our emotions can be complex, we can feel multiple things at once and our feelings can affect our perceptions and observations of the world. Even of things like flowers.

Some professions, like science or art, require more highly developed skills of observation and emotional intelligence than others but we all benefit from having a good grasp of these skills and to develop, exercise and maintain them all of our lives.

Practicing these skills in a sketchbook is, like writing or scrapbooking or music mix-tape making or gardening, another way to gather and process information about life and about oneself. It's not about perfect drawings or perfect anything- it’s just another way of gathering information, observing, understanding or at least empathizing with the inner self.

Most of my sketchbook pages are created as a way of taking a moment to pause and quietly observe my inner life, perhaps to sweep away any detritus - as described in a book I illustrated “Dr. Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”.

A book I highly recommend related to this topic of being an active observer of your own life is The Art Of Noticing by Rob Walker. Perhaps your local library or bookstore has a copy?

I hope your weekend is full of pleasant moments and that you'll notice them.

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1. An excellent Substack about color mixing and matching to plants is by a handmade garden - the photos of watercolor grids and the plants themselves are good examples of the kind of thing I used to demonstrate back in the day. 💚💚💚👇

Seeing Color

2. I learned this “thought watching” technique when I illustrated a book titled Dr. Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit and learned of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.