Ssssh...the secret garden

For decades now, I have been interested in the concept of a ‘secret garden’. I think it stems from growing up as a kid in the country and exploring the surrounding gardens, fields and countryside. This illustration depicts a hidden secret garden that you (the viewer) is being ushered into quietly by a mysterious caped lady. I pitched the style of this illustration for a children’s story book and included the detail that kids love: darkness, an evil spider and shadowy undergrowth on the left transitioning into warm, beautiful flowerbeds full with a friendly, fluttering butterfly on the right.