How I Paint Realistic Pet Portraits in Watercolor
There’s something magical about watercolor: the way it flows, blends, and captures light… but it’s also one of the trickiest mediums to master. One wrong brush stroke can become a permanent mistake, and achieving realism requires patience, precision, and planning. And yet, watercolor brings pets to life in a way that no other medium can. Today, I want to take you behind the scenes and show you exactly how I create realistic pet portraits, step by step.
Rooted in Resilience: Chuvash Plant Traditions
Explore the rich botanical traditions of the Chuvash, an Indigenous Turkic people of the Volga region. From sacred groves and seasonal rituals to embroidery, jewelry, and woodcarving, plants are central to Chuvash spirituality, art, and cultural identity. Despite centuries of colonization and Christianization, these motifs and practices endure, preserving ancestral knowledge, herbal medicine, and symbolic artistry as acts of cultural resilience and quiet resistance.
Botanical Art Worldwide 2025
The 2025 Botanical Art Worldwide (BAWW) project celebrates the biodiversity of crops that have been vital to humans for millennia.
I have the honor of being the sole botanical artist representing France in Belgium for Botanical Art Worldwide in 2025.
For this year’s theme, I chose to portray the chayote vine (Sechium edule), an ancient crop valued for its culinary and textile industry uses. My artwork, which features the plant’s fruit, stems, shoots, leaves, and flowers, is the result of over 600+ hours of work and two years of dedicated research.
Despite facing personal challenges, I have completed my painting in time for the September exhibition.
This is one of the most demanding projects I’ve ever undertaken, emotionally and physically, but I’m proud to have contributed to this beautiful initiative and to have represented France in this international celebration of plants and botanical art.