First Garden: The White House Garden and How It Grew

The White House kitchen garden, part of Michelle Obama’s campaign to encourage healthful eating, was established in 2009. This book tells the story of Mrs. Obama’s garden, as well as the story of the White House grounds, the other gardens (including Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden in World War II) that came before, the White House children who have played there, and the teamwork, involving local children as well as the Obama family and White House staff, that led to the garden now flourishing on the South Lawn. This is a lighthearted, entertaining, and lavishly illustrated introduction to an inspiring and much-publicized project. Includes recipes.

Images from the Author of First Garden
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

I use a lot of picture reference for my drawings. For John Adams I found portraits of him in biographies in the public library.
I began with one posture and developed the pose, adding the vegetables in John’s hand which started to tell the story I wished to tell in First Garden.

I didn’t feel that pose in the first drawing was dynamic enough so I found a picture of a statue of Adams which had the energy I wanted to portray.


I added a head based on the earlier book reference and after multiple sketches I felt satisfied with the tone of the drawing.
The final painting of President Adams placed with other elements, similarly created, completes the composition.