Last year I started to illustrate the feature gardens for New Zealand Gardener Magazine. It is quite a challenge to interpret a mix of resources (aerial photos, garden photos, websites and owner sketches) into an illustration reflective of the garden design and layout to compliment and provide context to the garden photographs in the magazine.
Whenever possible, I try to visit the gardens (if they are local) as it not only gives me a chance to visit some wonderful gardens, but is enormously helpful in developing the illustration. The garden featured above I visited - a beautiful and characterful garden in New Lynn - such inspiring use of colour in the garden with pot features as shown below.
One of the more challenging illustrations was a cemetery in Dunedin - a heritage rose trail.
The illustrations are usually plan views - but sometimes i'll try an axonometric to give some three dimensional interest - especially for the smaller gardens like the one above from Christchurch.
I use watercolour techniques to colour the ink line drawings - a passion from my days at the English Gardening School learning botanical painting. I think the vibrancy of the colours and readability of the images is helped with this technique - plan views can so often be difficult to decipher.
The owners are delighted to receive the original watercolour illustration as a gift as they are larger and more subtle in their colours than the magazine copy.
If anyone is interested in an illustration of their garden/property don't hesitate to contact me.
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