"28 Years" - Year #7

For general information about this 22"x30" colored pencil drawing, see this blog post.
For more information about the flower symbolism I used (Years 1-14) and life events that led me to select those particular flowers, see this blog post.

--

My 7th year is represented with sweet pea and morning glory flowers. This is the last "mini drawing" in the top row of this four-row composition.

• Sweet Pea: symbol of bliss, pleasure, sweet departure after having a good time, and thankfulness
• Morning Glory: symbol of affection, mortality/finality of life on earth, unrequited love, and strength in gentleness

First I drew outlines of the flowers on black paper:

Here are the botanical drawings I looked at for reference as I worked (I do not own either of these images; I found them on Google):

I sketched the sweet pea in first, then the bluer morning glories.

That first light layer is to lay down the color blocking, the composition, of the drawing so I know which flowers will go where. At this point, I erase my earlier pencil lines.

After this, I start going in with multiple pencils and making the color more saturated and more nuanced - adding in shadows and highlights and details. Below, you can see how I worked on the sweet pea first, giving the petals dimensionality. Then, I finished up with more color to the morning glories on the right side.

Here is the finished top row! This drawing is going to be four rows of seven "mini drawings," each mini drawing representing a year of my life. These first seven "bouquets" therefore represent the first quarter of my life to date. Three more rows (21 "mini drawings") to go!