​Really looking at your subject - trying to put aside assumptions, desires, and expectations - and then clearly articulating what you've found - these are the essentials of good observation in art and science.  The hand of the artist and the biases of the scientist do not detract from the work, but provide context and insight into the humanity of the observer.

 

In my life, art has always had great explanatory power.  Drawing cells in the biology laboratory taught me how to infer function from form.  I see ideas as pictures and if I can't visualize an idea and communicate it in the form of a sketch I don't feel confident that I really understand it.

As I continue with my studies in biology and find myself questioning the value of making art for its own sake, I think of my artistic mentors Liz Marshall and Thomas Braithwaite who taught me the survival value of balancing serious thought and inquiry with whimsy and "just for pretty".

 

These days I find myself painting landscapes and wildlife because, I suppose, they are on my mind.  I have trouble turning my attention to more fantastic and purely creative subject matter because I feel a need to focus the attention of those around me on the natural world that is suffering at the hands of humanity as a result of what I see as apathy born of distance and unfamiliarity.