Process of several art projects, 2025

This blog post will contain multiple 2025 projects, with process photos!

Protect Florida Wildlands:

Watercolor 12x15"

This piece went through several iterations. I’m happy with where it landed! I wanted to include as many iconic Florida species as I could. I’m inspired by the countless Floridians working to protect the land against destruction and development. Each year that work becomes more urgent and critical. I appreciate all of you for doing what you can to help. It makes a huge difference.

This piece is available as a print here: https://www.kimheise.com/product-page/protect-florida-wildlands-print

Animals pictured: Florida panther, black bear, alligator, roseate spoonbill, gopher tortoise, swallowtail kite, zebra longwing (our state butterfly), and if you look closely there is a very tiny scrub jay :3

Plants depicted: slash pine, saw palmetto, swamp mallow hibiscus, coontie, and dune sunflower

1 - Thumbnail sketches

2 - Thumbnail sketch

3 - Began sketching details

4 - Refined details

5 - Changed the gator

6 - Added color and changed design

7 - Changed the gator again

8 - Refined sketch, but didn't like how the gator was coming out

10 - Fixed the details in the gator

I use many references, here are a few

Here are some more, I really like Holly's photos

---

Scrub Jay and Sand Oak

Watercolor 12x15"

This piece is inspired by Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and other at-risk scrub habitats. Florida Scrub Jays are only found in Florida! I’m told they eat the acorns from the sand oak trees for a large part of their diet.

Prints are available: https://www.kimheise.com/.../scrub-jay-with-sand-oak-print

Reference for the scrub jay is by Holly Youngblood Cannon (she has lots of great photos for artists, I recommend)

1 - Went to Jonathan Dickenson Park to take photos of scrub jays and sand oaks.

2 - I couldn't get good photos of scrub jays, so I used photos by Holly Cannon (with permission)

3 - I arranged the sand oak and scrub jay photos in Photoshop to create the composition

4 - Here is the sketch

5 - I tried out a more compact version, but decided against it

Here's the finished painting

---

Malachite and Carolina Wild Petunia

Watercolor, 10x10"

Carolina Wild Petunia is the local native plant that Malachite butterflies can host on in Florida! This stunning butterfly ranges through Central and South America and the Caribbean, and is thought to have migrated here to Florida from Cuba recently when its Cuban host plant, the Green Shrimp Plant also appeared here. The Green Shrimp Plant is invasive in Florida, so the Carolina Wild Petunia is thought to be a good alternative.

I first learned the story of the species from Flamingo Gardens in Broward County, where they rear Malachites in their Butterfly Conservatory (my image references for the painting come from there!) and I was told about the Carolina Wild Petunia while there, but they didn’t have much of it growing in the garden at the time. 2 years later I was excited to find the plant was in stock at Florida Nursery Mart (a native plant store just down the street from Flamingo Gardens). I bought a plant, photographed it at home over several weeks, and those are the references that I used for this piece!

Prints are available here: https://www.kimheise.com/product-page/malachite-and-carolina-wild-petunia-print

Like, the scrub jay painting, the piece also started off as a collage of images:

---

Gopher Tortoise and Gopher Apple

Watercolor 12x15"

Gopher tortoises are found throughout Florida and the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and S Carolina. (I was actually surprised because I thought their range was larger) They are a keystone species because they dig burrows and hundreds of other animals and insects make their homes in them. They are a threatened species that are impacted by habitat destruction. Their diet consists of many different plants, including grasses, fruits and flowers. The Gopher Apple is a native herbaceous plant with low-laying fruit, that bears it’s name, so I had to include it!

The reference (used with permission) for the tortoise is by John Sullivan, the gopher apple flowers are by Michael Ingram, and I took the photos of the gopher apple plants and fruits at Lakeside Sand Pine Preserve in Broward! For this piece I decided to forgo a sketch and create a collage instead. My first arrangement of the plants wasn't at quite the right scale, so I redid the composition to make them larger.

Prints are available here: https://www.kimheise.com/product-page/gopher-tortoise-with-gopher-apple-print