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The story behind… my Italian Gardens illustration

framed print of meadow flower illustration, Torquay

This summer, flower beds across the Bay have been planted with the most gorgeous meadow flowers! I absolutely LOVE it! So much prettier than the traditional formal planting. Here’s the Italian Gardens in Torquay…

I took the girl down with me to Torquay seafront and we sketched the view from the Italian Gardens, looking towards Rock Walk and the Riviera Wheel. It was so lovely to hear the positive comments from passers by, and it’s definitely proved to be a popular backdrop for a selfie! Find more photos from our day out on my Facebook page >

Here’s the girl sketching her interpretation, along with the page from her sketchbook below. I love how she has captured all the different shapes and sizes of the flowers 🙂

There were so many wonderful flowers, it was hard to know what to leave out! Here’s my initial messy sketch…

Next step was to import the sketch into my design software and make an initial colour study. I use a programme called Adobe Illustrator, which uses shapes and layers to build up the image. I normally like to use a limited palette of 4 or 5 colours, but this one demanded a pop of colour! See a short video of how I build up my work using layers here >

Sometimes it takes a while to build up the final piece, but this one of the Italian Gardens took only 2 days! Once I get an idea in my head I need to just run with it and keep working until it’s done! As the foreground was so busy, I kept the view behind fairly simple, using blues and greens to make it recede into the background.

And here’s the final thing! I loved creating it, I hope you like it too 🙂 It’s available now from my shop, both as framed and unframed print, in sizes A5 – A2. Shop now >

framed print of meadow flower illustration, Torquay

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