Pearl Lui is an Artist & Calligrapher based in NJ & NYC.

My heart raced and I gently closed my eyes as the thunderous waves pounded the sand. Though loud, I sat quietly and unafraid. With a deep breath, I was fully engulfed by the warm, golden sun rays on my back. I daydreamed and found comfort somewhere between scientific observation and noticing the whimsy in nature.

That was over 40 years ago. After a corporate career of over 20 years, I made the leap in 2024 to begin painting portraits of the sea, the bees, and the caprines. The lure to capture fleeting emotions from observing nature that once flooded my mind now flows onto my canvases. With maturity, seasonality feels brief, and I don't want to forget a single lucky moment we have with Mother Nature.

I am Pearl Lui-Chan, a Botanical & Wildlife Artist & Calligrapher. I launch monthly drops of Hand-Painted Moody Botanicals & Wildlife Portraits on my website DearDaughtersDesign.com and @deardaughtersdesign on Instagram, whimsical greeting cards in person at The Co-Lab in South Orange, NJ, and when I’m not painting, I am connecting with from Morristown to Summit, NJ, where I teach calligraphy & watercolor.

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Tiny Treasures, Colony II, Collection 2025: A slow growing respect for bumble bees became a tiny obsession from a Fall 2025 visit to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, NJ. After meeting a cloud of foraging bumble bees captivated by beautiful anemones, Pearl went back to the studio, inspired to paint as many acrobatic moments possible.

Faerie Surrealist Ink Collection 2025: Eight artworks of whimsically reimagined orchids painted based on real orchids from her home studio collection of plants, Pearl created these 5x7 originals using carbon ink. Personifying these well-loved moth orchids through its roots abstractly crowned with its blooms, and confidently sophisticated and elegant.

In Pearl’s own words, “my love for charismatic florals and whimsical seashells perhaps started when I first came across the unforgettable pansies, irises, and daisies and cute little oysters in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.” Highly visual since childhood, her artistic influence spans a huge spectrum from Van Gogh and Matisse, to O’Keeffe, to cartoonists such as Disney, Keene (Family Circus), and Anderson (Marmaduke), to traditional Chinese ink brush paintings.

“I should see the garden far better, if I could get to the top of that hill: and here’s a path that leads straight to it—at least, no, it doesn’t do that— but I suppose it will at last. But how curiously it twists! It’s more like a corkscrew than a path! Well, this turn goes to the hill, I suppose—no, it doesn’t! This goes straight back to the house! Well then, I’ll try it the other way.”

— Alice, Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Pearl is a seasoned marketing leader with over 20 years in corporate who now pursues art full-time. Her greatest joys are raising her daughters with her husband, playing with her two German Shepherds, tending to her plants, newly birding, and sketching at her local nature conservancies.

Pearl holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems minoring in Graphic Communications. She is currently pursuing a Natural Sciences Illustration Certificate, a Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education program. Expected completion, Spring 2026.

Pearl has 14 years of calligraphy experience and is a member of International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting (IAMPETH) and Society of Scribes New York City. She is also a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

Follow Pearl’s daily life as an artist @pearllui on Instagram and stay up to date about her Fine Art & Stationery business @deardaughtersdesign.