Scientific Illustration

Dayna Gross, Silver Creek Watershed Manager for TNC, and the person responsible for bringing me to the Wood River Valley eight years ago next week wrote this post for Cool Green Science, The Nature Conservancy's blog.

Silver Creek Preserve manager Dayna Gross used her love of painting to help convey complex stream restoration plans.

Scientific illustration is more than just pretty pictures — a point made quite clearly in my own work at the Conservancy’s Silver Creek Preserve, as we tried to convey restoration plans to the general public.

For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed painting flowers, insects, and landscapes.  There is something so enjoyable about capturing colors and textures in paintings.

In the last ten years this hobby has expanded into my work: illustration has become key in how I view the world, understand conservation and communicate ideas.

Science has always relied on visual representation to convey key concepts. While representation has varied from Audubon’s bird paintings to high-tech GPS imagery, illustration has at is core always been about conveying information.

However, while we have inarguably made amazing advancements in information technology, high-tech does not always mean “easy to understand.”

You can check out the full piece here.