"Religion Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - Finished

I've finished another of my 19"x25" colored pencil drawings in this "Stronger Together" series! I have two more planned - Class and Ability. (If you're interested, you can check out the other three I've completed: Race - at this blog post, Gender - at this one, or Sexuality - at this post.)

This newly completed one is called "Religion Bouquet." The two-dozen flowers I chose for this bouquet are all symbolically used or associated with a modern or ancient religion (including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, various Native American religions, and/or Greek/Roman mythology), or else symbolize Atheism, Humanism, or Science, to be inclusive of non-religious people who are often left out of discussions on religious tolerance.

Here is the finished drawing, which uses a general yellow-purple-red-white color scheme, with hints of oranges and greens:

And here is the original plan, sketched out on newsprint, next to the final drawing on black paper:

I used 28 different colored pencils, ranging from warm reds, oranges, and browns, to cool purples, blues, and greens, as well as sunny yellows and high-contrast white and black.

This is not yet available for sale, but I will probably list it (and the others to-come in this series) in my Etsy shop at the end of the year.

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To read about religious discrimination, and why I think it persists in being a problem in the United States, I invite you to read this blog post. I've also recently written posts on the Separation of Church and State and a call for secularism, as well as a post in defense of Atheism, which you can read at the links above.

To read about the idea behind this colored pencil drawing and an explanation for the symbolism of the specific flowers used, check out this post.

To see "the making of" photos of this drawing, please visit these:

• Preliminary sketches ("In Progress 1")
• Drawing and lightly coloring in the first 12 flowers ("In Progress 2")
• Drawing and lightly coloring in the last 12 flowers ("In Progress 3")
• Adding detail and dimension to the ti leaves, cattails, enchanter's nightshade, violets, plumeria, and black-eyed susans ("In Progress 4")
• Adding detail and dimension to the holly, tulips, lychnis, morning glories, pomegranate, and acanthus ("In Progress 5")
• Adding detail and dimension to the amaranthus, birds of paradise, orchids, irises, lilies, and zinnia ("In Progress 6")
• Adding detail and dimension to the lotus, daffodils, gladiolus, sage, jasmine, and roses ("In Progress 7")

"Religion Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 6

To read about religious discrimination and why tolerance of people of all religions (and non-religions) is so important, visit this blog post.

To read about the religious symbolism of the 24 flowers used in this drawing, go back to this blog post.

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My drawing is now halfway complete! Today's post will outline the next six flowers I worked on, as I continued to go through the bouquet flower-by-flower.

This amaranthus (love lies bleeding) is on the left side of the bouquet, underneath the plumeria. I used two shades of green for the leaves, and pink, cream, and two shades of red for the flowers:

In the middle of the bouquet, just under the pomegranante, is this vibrant display of birds of paradise. I used nearly every color of the rainbow for this one - magenta, red, orange, white, yellow, green, dark green, blue, and two purple pencils:

These orchids were colored in with blue-violet, red-violet, magenta, lavender gray, pink, red, and dark red:

Back on the other side, I added color and detail to the purple irises with white, lavender, purple, magenta, brown, yellow, green, blue, and black pencils:

Next to the irises, I drew this white lily, surrounded by small lily buds. I used white, orange, yellow, black, and two green colored pencils:

The eighteenth flower in this bouquet are these orange zinnia. I used white, black, magenta, orange, and yellow, as well as two shades of green for the stems:

Only six more flowers, and the glass vase, to finish up before this 19"x25" is complete!

"Religious Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 3

To read about religious discrimination and why tolerance of people of all religions (and non-religions) is so important, visit this blog post.

To read about the religious symbolism of the 24 flowers used in this drawing, go back to this blog post.

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My last blog post looked at the first twelve flowers - and this one will look at the last twelve. Once all 24 are lightly drawn in like this, the next step is to go back through and add more layers, building up colors and details.

I started this second half of the sketch with the holly plant:

At the very top of the bouquet is a cluster of green and red ti leaves:

On either side of the ti leaves, filling out the top, are brown cattails and the whiteish-red enchanter's nightshade herb:

Going back down along the right and left sides, I added purple colored violet flowers and purple tulips:

Below the violets, I drew a bunch of yellow-white plumeria:

And underneath the tulips, a bunch of red lychnis:

Continuing down the left side is the red amaranthus (aka love lies bleeding) plant, and a pair of purple irises:

On the right side, I filled in the rest of the drawing with several purple orchids and white jasmine flowers:

Here is the layout for the entire drawing:

As you can see, all of the flowers are in place - but from a distance especially they are too lightly drawn to stand out much from the black paper. Next I will go back through one-by-one and add more color to each flower.

Below is the quick sketch on newsprint (the plan I worked from), and the start of the black paper drawing (the final piece):

"Race Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 4

To read about the meaning behind this drawing or the specific symbolism of each flower, visit this blog post.

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My new 19x25" colored pencil drawing, "Race Bouquet (Stronger Together)," is coming along nicely! Now that my preliminary sketch/planning is finished, and a lightly drawn in first layer is down on the black paper, it's time to start adding depth and detail by working on each flower individually, looking at my reference pictures for guidance, and blending layers of colors together.

I started with the astilbe on top. As you can see, I used only three colors for this one - a light pink, a slightly darker pink, and white. There wasn't much shading or dimensionality to add here - just a series of lines to represent the thin little branches - so it was a quick plant to complete.

I moved onto the cattails next, which was similarly easy. I used two different shades of yellow-green for the stalks, and three shades for the brown cattails.

The gladiolus required a bit more work, since there were several flowers on each stalk. I used two shades of peach, two shades of orange, and dark red and black for the dark centers of the flowers. Then I used three shades of green in the stalk-like stems and leaves.

I worked on the protea next, using two shades of pink, "pumpkin orange" for some of the shadows, white and cream for the highlights and the lines at the center of the protea, and two shades of green for the leaves around the protea's base.

For the freesia plant, I used two shades of green for the stems, pale yellow and cream for the highlights, three shades of pink, and a dark brownish-red or the shadows, and black to define some of the edges.

The hanging amaranthus on the left side was created with two shades of peach, two shades of orange, a yellow-orange pencil, pale yellow, and black. I used two shades of green and some orange to add color to the leaf.

Those are the first six flowers. I plan to gradually make my way down the rest of this bouquet, flower by flower, in much the same fashion, until they're all complete!