inspiration found afterwards

Just about a month ago I cracked open a brand new sketch book. It's always so exciting but... always so intimidating to start drawing on those first few crisp white pages. I began doodling a page of fun swirly hearts. This pattern below features my favorite one!

Not much more than a couple weeks later after my page full of hearts did Matt and I make a second trip out to Longwood Gardens... where we discovered this heart pattern! I love finding things like this after I've already drawn my own version.

Here are just a few other snapshots from the gardens... and most certainly future inspiration.

I just love the leaf-like pattern on these gigantic leaves.

This chrysanthemum shield is made up from just one plant- absolutely. amazing.

These little flowers were so delicate and vibrant.

Longwood Gardens

This past weekend was a fantastic one! Matt and I made a trip to longwood gardens & then to chestnut hill's arts and crafts fest. The weekend was filled with food, walking, and of course tons of inspiration! I took over 200 pictures at longwood- there was so much to see and we only saw about half of it. unbelievable! Here's just a small amount of the pictures I took- I have a feeling I'm going to start uploading my zillions of photos to Flickr..

I imagined this overhead shot of these gorgeous red flowers as a polka-dotted pattern

I just loved the color of this flower, its big shiny petals, and the tiny flowers floating inside of it

these swirled plants were one of my favorite finds

the water lilies were absolutely stunning, look how large they are!

inside part of the conservatory were these topiary bees hanging from the ceiling

this bench reminded me of an owl

can you tell I have a thing for scrolls and swirls? I loved the simplicity of this bench

this was part of a waterfall/fountain I just loved the pattern and texture

the shape and color of this flower reminds me of a paper lantern

Due to my recent fascination with cacti and succulent plants I decided to purchase and plant some of my own! I find so much inspiration in plants that I'm always doodling my own oddball flowers in my sketchbook and on scrap pieces of paper (I always have so much laying around that I put them to good use!)

more super fun ink drawings. 

I'm really loving these. Normally I like my drawings to be simple, light, and airy; but I'm enjoying the heaviness (or maybe busyness?) of them.

overgrown

just been experimenting (and having fun!) with some inked line drawings. I have a whole page of a bristol sheet covered with these- needless to say I took many little breaks because my hand started to ache from the repetition of the circles.

I reeeaalllllly want to re-open my etsy shop. I want to create a steady stream of these quirky fun drawings I'm always doodling in my sketchbook and make some nice prints of them.

I'm so excited at the thought (!!!) that I even bought some cute 4x6 frames today so I can take some snazzy photos of the prints.

Now back to the drawing table... stay tuned for more!