Palm Beach: Sketching Icons, Fancy Flamingos & Art Fair Energy
Palm Beach has a way of making everything feel cinematic—especially when experienced through digital ink and watercolor. This recent trip was part research, part inspiration, and part exploration of how illustration can live naturally within Palm Beach’s most iconic environments.
Two landmarks anchored the sketching portion of my visit: The Colony Hotel and The Breakers—properties that are as visually distinctive as they are culturally enduring. Both hotels embody a rare balance of heritage, confidence, and personality, making them natural subjects for my work.
Illustrating The Colony Hotel
The Colony’s unmistakable pink façade and graphic sensibility feel inherently illustrative. While sketching, I focused on capturing the spirit of the property rather than literal detail—the sense of arrival, the playful elegance, and the way the hotel functions as both a destination and a visual signature of Palm Beach. It’s the kind of place where art, design, and atmosphere feel intentionally intertwined.
The Breakers: Timeless Grandeur, Reimagined
Illustrating The Breakers offered a different but equally compelling challenge. Its architecture speaks to tradition and scale, yet the experience remains warm, inviting, and alive. Through line work and restrained color, I explored how illustration can interpret that grandeur while still feeling contemporary—an approach that complements the hotel’s ability to honor history while remaining relevant.
Mini Fancy Flamingo Makes an Appearance
Traveling with me was Mini Fancy Flamingo, a recurring character in my work and a playful counterpoint to Palm Beach’s polished elegance. She made many appearances on the island - proof that even the most refined settings can welcome a sense of whimsy and personality. In many ways, she reflects the lighthearted confidence that defines Palm Beach itself.
Art Palm Beach: Context & Inspiration
A visit to Art Palm Beach provided valuable context for the region’s art and collecting culture. The fair reinforced how much Palm Beach values work that is visually confident, thoughtfully executed, and distinct. It was a reminder that illustration—when treated as fine art and design—has a meaningful place within this ecosystem.
A Natural Creative Alignment
Palm Beach is more than a backdrop; it’s a visual language built on color, tradition, and individuality. Creating illustrations inspired by The Colony Hotel and The Breakers felt less like interpretation and more like alignment. These properties already speak fluently in design and storytelling—illustration simply becomes another way to extend that conversation.
This trip marked the beginning of a Palm Beach–inspired body of work, with future pieces continuing to explore how art can live within iconic spaces—on paper, in products, and potentially within the environments that inspired them.
More to come.