Lara Costafreda is a Catalan illustrator who creates delicate and lively watercolors that reflect her background in fashion design. Her work has taken her from Barcelona to Brazil and back again, with a client list that includes Chanel, Hermès, Cartier, and Vogue to name but a few.

For Zócalo’s latest Sketchbook, the illustrator takes us through the end of summer with a series of flowers, beginning with a Southern California Tree Poppy. In a nod to the printing process, each of her plants is constructed in layers, as if every element was applied as an individual stencil. Costafreda carefully chooses where these stencils touch and overlap to create the illusion of translucency.