We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Louise Fleurs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Louise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

When I was in high school and it was time to choose a career, I didn’t really know what I wanted to study. All the aptitude tests pointed towards biology or related fields. And while it is something I have always loved, I just felt it didn’t match with me at the moment. I chose to go to art school and while studying there I felt that I had made the worst mistake of my life. I often wondered if I should have chosen biology instead but decided to finish my career in arts anyway. Soon after finishing my studies I got a job helping and archaeologist and from there I started to draw archaeological material. After that job I started freelancing and doing nature illustrations for local ONGs and suddenly my work was a fusion of art and biology. I still wonder if I should have studied biology instead, but when I am creating and see my work displayed at a museum or finish commissions like native plants illustrations; I feel like there cannot be a more satisfying job.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I had this book when I was a kid called the Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter. I loved that book and the illustrations where just beautiful. When I was studying arts I discovered that Beatrix besides writing children’s books was also a nature illustrator, after reading about her work then I discovered the work of Maria Sibylla Merian and how she was one of the first European naturalists and how her illustrations helped study the insects of the New World. The work of these naturalist women inspired me and I wanted to do something similar. I was studying in Ensenada at the time and noticed there wasn’t anyone documenting the native plants of the area. So I started to go on hikes, taking pictures of all the plants I could identify and based on those pictures I made illustrations of every plant I could. My work started to draw attention from local investigators and environmentalists and from here is where I started to build a career on nature and scientific illustration. Scientific illustration is still relevant even in a time when pictures are readily available. Scientific illustration lets you communicate complex ideas visually so anyone can understand them, some elements in plants or insects, for example, cannot really be expressed through a photo and that is when illustration shows its importance. I have been studying the plants and some of the animals that are native to the northwester Mexico so not only can I make and accurate drawing, but I can also tell what aspects need to be highlighted in a drawing or what elements are important in some species. I don’t know any artists in Baja California or Mexico that specialize in this type of field so I want to try and preserve or endangered ecosystems through my art raising awareness of our natural richness.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I was always so stubborn thinking that I should learn how to paint or draw on my own without studying from anyone else’s techniques. But I was terribly wrong, I wish I could have started studying from other artists’ process from the beginning so I could have fixed from early on some basic mistakes I kept doing and developing my technique faster. It’s alright to ask for help, don’t think that you hace to do everything on your own.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I remember a trip I had to the Hunting Library and they had in exhibition some illustrations of the Audubon’s Birds of America. I really wish some day my illustrations will be an important visual record of the native plants from my area. I really wish none of them go extinct, but if some do, I hope my illustrations will provide a helpful record for future generations.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/louise.fleurs
• Facebook: Facebook.com/louise.fleurs.art