Now that I've finished my colored pencil drawing "Race Bouquet (Stronger Together)," it's time to begin my next one. I am using the same basic concept - showing many different types of flowers, representing different types of people, together in a single flower bouquet - but with a different focus. This time, instead of race, I'm looking at gender.
(For an explanation of gender and some important terminology that goes along with that, please read my last post.)
Even though "pink" and "blue" have completely arbitrarily been assigned to girls and boys respectively, using those colors to symbolize the two ends of the gender spectrum seemed the most logical option to me. And so I researched different types of flowers and selected ones that would fill out the entire spectrum of pink (light pink and dark pink) to blue (light blue and dark blue) with plenty of shades of purple (light purple and dark purple) in between.
I tried to make sure that all (or at least most) of the flowers I selected had symbolism associated with them that represented positive qualities. I further wanted some stereotypical "masculine" traits to end up in the pink flowers and some stereotypical "feminine" traits to end up in the blue flowers - because individuals who identify as female can also have "masculine" traits, and individuals who identify as male can also have "feminine" traits, and that fact does not make them more or less male or female (unless they choose to identify otherwise).
Here are the flowers I chose to use for this bouquet, as well as the color I will draw them in, and the qualities they symbolize:
Before I started this drawing, I had a little internal debate with myself. Did I want to mix up the flowers representing different genders, as I did in the Race Bouquet drawing? Or did I want to segregate them by color, to better make the point that gender is a spectrum? In the end I decided on the second option.
Race (especially with regards to skin color) is also a spectrum, but perhaps a more obvious one. Furthermore, at least in the U.S., we've done enough segregating of people by race - both historically and to this day - and I didn't want to "segregate" the different races in my drawing, which is why I mixed up the different colored flowers into an integrated bouquet. But for this Gender Bouquet, my point is less about different genders interacting (this already happens easily, frequently, and often happily) and more about the different aspects of gender that are less obvious at first glance - the "hidden" genders we might not be aware of or have much day-to-day exposure of. And I thought that by arranging the flowers by color it would get this point across better - that gender is a spectrum, and that "pink" and "blue" are not the only two options.
Once my research was complete, I started planning the composition of the drawing. Though I will do the final drawing on black paper, I drew the early sketches on newsprint, just to work out the composition and where each plant would go in the bouquet.
I did a quick mini-sketch first, to work out the order of the flowers. I decided to put pink on the left, blue on the right, and purple in the middle.
Then I drew a larger sketch on the newsprint, trying to draw it more or less to scale, so that drawing on the black paper would be easier.
I didn't quite how it worked out - it seemed that my placement only used the middle of the page, leaving the top 1/4 and bottom 1/4 too empty. So I made some notes to myself for how to stretch the bouquet out vertically more when I draw it on black paper - small changes like adding more lavender, moving certain flowers up a little, and making other flowers (like the lithodora) smaller.
Then I drew another quick mini-sketch in the corner, as a reminder for where the flowers should lie so that more of the black paper will be used. The bottom 1/4 of the paper will be the vase, but some of the flowers should creep into that top 1/4. I drew a four by four grid to make notes to myself for how to arrange each flower.
Now that these first sketches are done, it's time to tackle to actual drawing. My next blog post will show the first steps I took to start drawing on the black paper.
(For an explanation of gender and some important terminology that goes along with that, please read my last post.)
Even though "pink" and "blue" have completely arbitrarily been assigned to girls and boys respectively, using those colors to symbolize the two ends of the gender spectrum seemed the most logical option to me. And so I researched different types of flowers and selected ones that would fill out the entire spectrum of pink (light pink and dark pink) to blue (light blue and dark blue) with plenty of shades of purple (light purple and dark purple) in between.
I tried to make sure that all (or at least most) of the flowers I selected had symbolism associated with them that represented positive qualities. I further wanted some stereotypical "masculine" traits to end up in the pink flowers and some stereotypical "feminine" traits to end up in the blue flowers - because individuals who identify as female can also have "masculine" traits, and individuals who identify as male can also have "feminine" traits, and that fact does not make them more or less male or female (unless they choose to identify otherwise).
Here are the flowers I chose to use for this bouquet, as well as the color I will draw them in, and the qualities they symbolize:
- lupine - light pink - happiness, inner strength, recovery from trauma, new opportunities, positivity
- hibiscus - light pink - delicate beauty, femininity, perfection, womanhood
- geranium - pink - love, folly
- amaryllis - pink - pride, worth beyond beauty, splendor, strength, self-confidence
- hollyhock - pink - ambition, abundance, fertility
- gerbera daisy - pink - cheerfulness, joy, high esteem, admiration
- dahlia - dark pink - diversity, elegance, inner strength, creativity, change, dignity
- snapdragon - dark pink - fascination, concealment, deception, graciousness
- lavender - light purple - purity, silence, caution, serenity, calm, devotion, virtue, wishes coming true, grown-up femininity, refinement, grace, elegance, delicateness, preciousness
- chrysanthemum - light purple - cheerfulness, lasting friendship, support from friends and family, rest and recovery after a challenge, enduring life and rebirth, loyalty and devotion
- protea - pinkish purple - change, resourcefulness, daring, transformation, diversity, courage, keeping thoughts/knowledge to yourself
- peony - pinkish purple - bashfulness, shame, good marriage, good life, compassion, bringing honor to one's family, wealth and riches, romantic love, beauty
- carnation - blueish purple - capriciousness, impulsivity, whimsy, changeability, unreliability
- african violet - blueish purple - love, affection, modesty, faith, nobility, intuition, dignity, perseverance
- iris - dark purple - wisdom, compliments, eloquence, good news, royalty, faith, hope, bridge between heaven and earth
- pansy - remembrance, admiration
- lithodora - light blue - stoniness, frigidity, unexpected gifts in unlikely places
- sweet pea - light blue - pleasure, bliss, sweet departure after having a good time, gratitude
- azalea - blue - womanhood, fragility, gratitude, passion, femininity, softness
- hydrangea - blue - gratitude at being understood, frigidity, spurning the opportunity for love, apology, heartfelt and honest emotions, deep understanding between two people
- cornflower - blue - young men in love, tenderness, fidelity
- anemone - blue - luck and protection against evil
- lotus - dark blue - wisdom, knowledge, perfection, enlightenment
- delphinium - dark blue - open heart, ardent attachment, lightness, levity
Before I started this drawing, I had a little internal debate with myself. Did I want to mix up the flowers representing different genders, as I did in the Race Bouquet drawing? Or did I want to segregate them by color, to better make the point that gender is a spectrum? In the end I decided on the second option.
Race (especially with regards to skin color) is also a spectrum, but perhaps a more obvious one. Furthermore, at least in the U.S., we've done enough segregating of people by race - both historically and to this day - and I didn't want to "segregate" the different races in my drawing, which is why I mixed up the different colored flowers into an integrated bouquet. But for this Gender Bouquet, my point is less about different genders interacting (this already happens easily, frequently, and often happily) and more about the different aspects of gender that are less obvious at first glance - the "hidden" genders we might not be aware of or have much day-to-day exposure of. And I thought that by arranging the flowers by color it would get this point across better - that gender is a spectrum, and that "pink" and "blue" are not the only two options.
Once my research was complete, I started planning the composition of the drawing. Though I will do the final drawing on black paper, I drew the early sketches on newsprint, just to work out the composition and where each plant would go in the bouquet.
I did a quick mini-sketch first, to work out the order of the flowers. I decided to put pink on the left, blue on the right, and purple in the middle.
Then I drew a larger sketch on the newsprint, trying to draw it more or less to scale, so that drawing on the black paper would be easier.
I didn't quite how it worked out - it seemed that my placement only used the middle of the page, leaving the top 1/4 and bottom 1/4 too empty. So I made some notes to myself for how to stretch the bouquet out vertically more when I draw it on black paper - small changes like adding more lavender, moving certain flowers up a little, and making other flowers (like the lithodora) smaller.
Then I drew another quick mini-sketch in the corner, as a reminder for where the flowers should lie so that more of the black paper will be used. The bottom 1/4 of the paper will be the vase, but some of the flowers should creep into that top 1/4. I drew a four by four grid to make notes to myself for how to arrange each flower.
Now that these first sketches are done, it's time to tackle to actual drawing. My next blog post will show the first steps I took to start drawing on the black paper.
No comments:
Post a Comment