We’re running a special offer right up until the end of May. Buy a Flow Special* from our web shop and you’ll receive a 25% discount. Like the Flow Book of Posters & Cards, for example: a special in which we’ve collated all of our favorite illustrations, designs and photos from the past eight years of Flow into one book. One of the illustrators featured in it is Bodil Jane, and here she tells us what she’s up to.
- Simply use the code ‘special17’ when you’re at the checkout in our web shop.
*The offer is valid on all Flow Specials – with the exception of the Love & Life Special (in English) and the Dutch editions Flow Wonen 2017, Flow Mindfulness & Creativiteit 2017, and existing packages – while stocks last and ends on 7 May 2017.
“This illustration is part of a series of illustrations in which I show you how to draw a plant. I have done a lot with plants. As a child, I would spend a lot of time in botanical gardens, drawing, and it’s something that I still love to do. Any city I visit, I always go in search of a botanical garden where I can make some sketches. I also have collected lots of books with scientific botanical drawings. I love the works of the German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). I came across her work at an exhibition in the Teylers Museum years ago. I’ve always been influenced by illustrations such as hers. And I also have my mother to thank, as we had cupboards full of books with these kind of drawings at home. My mother also draws and paints on tiles and ceramics. Her studio is called 1000 graden and I’ve taken my loose style of drawing from her.”
What are you up to at the moment?
Last summer, I was invited to spend a month living and working on a houseboat in Sausalito, a fishing village near San Francisco, US, as part of the Varda Artists Residency Program. It’s really well-known among the art world, and famous artists, philosophers and writers have worked there since the 1940s. I was planning on getting a great deal of work done while there, but once I was there, I realized that I also needed to take some time out to relax. I have worked incredibly hard over the past three years, and this was an extremely beautiful – and very secluded – place. I had plenty of time for reflection, and I realized, in particular, that I have to work less hard and want to slow down. I’m trying to put that into practice now.
Personal milestone
The blog, It’s nice that, has written about me and that’s really a personal milestone, as it’s a great blog in the field of illustration. And I’m about to start on a really lovely project making stationery for a brand that will be sold in, among others, Urban Outfitters and the Tate Modern museum.
