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

This colored pencil drawing uses flower symbolism to represent the entire spectrum of social class from poverty to wealth and everything in between.

To read about capitalism and the growing disparity between the lower and upper classes, visit this blog post.

To read about the symbolism of each flower used in this bouquet, visit this blog post.

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Halfway done with this colored pencil drawing means I also have half more still to go! Today's post will look at the step-by-step process of finishing up the next six flowers in this bouquet drawing.

For these yellow kingcup flowers, I used seven colored pencils: tan, yellow, three shades of green, white, and black.

Over on the right side of the bouquet, I used cream, purple, magenta, pink, red, dark red, and black colored pencils to finish up this tight cluster of peonies.

For the yellow carnations, I used black, orange, white, cream, yellow, and three green colored pencils.

This coronella dahlia has a signature orange color. I used yellow and orange for the petals, dark red and black to add some shadows and define edges, and two dark shades of green for the leaves.

These evergreen clematis flowers were drawn with three shades of green (for the leaves, stems, and stamens), and white, brown and pink (for the petals and shadows).

Finally, the branch of pink orchid flowers was finished up with pink, red, brown, yellow, and white colored pencils.

I have only six more flowers to finish up until this entire drawing is complete!

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

This colored pencil drawing uses flower symbolism to represent the entire spectrum of social class from poverty to wealth and everything in between.

To read about capitalism and the growing disparity between the lower and upper classes, visit this blog post.

To read about the symbolism of each flower used in this bouquet, visit this blog post.

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Earlier this week, I posted "in progress" photos of the first twelve flowers being lightly sketched onto black paper. Today, I'll be finishing up the sketch with the last twelve flowers. Once the whole bouquet is sketched in, I'll be able to move on to adding in more layers of color, dimension, and detail, and putting the other final touches on the drawing.

Here is the sketch of the purple lupine stalks:

Next to that, I added in a few yellow sunflowers:

Off to the left side, next to the hibiscus I'd already drawn, I added in some bells of Ireland.

Filling out the top of the bouquet is this red/pink hollyhock plant:

At this point, I went back to the bottom of the drawing and starting sketching up from where the vase would go in. Here is the green lettuce, which will be just peeking out over the lip of the vase:

On the right side of the vase is a group of red poppies:

Next I added in some purple thyme:

And some orange trumpet flowers:

A stretch of white evergreen clematis flowers was sketched in next:

Followed by a symmetrical stripe of pink orchids on the right side of the bouquet:

There are only two plants left to sketch in. These edelweiss flowers on the right side:

And white angrec on the left side:

Here is the drawing so far, with the first step sketch complete (other than the vase, which is still only a graphite outline):

The next step is start going through and adding more color, building up layers of colored pencil pigment until I get the saturated, bright colors I want.

"Class Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 1

I have two 19x25 colored pencil drawings left in my "Stronger Together" series - Class and Ability.

For this Class bouquet, I wanted to make sure all classes were equally represented, from poverty/lower classes to middle class to upper class/wealth. As usual, I selected two dozen flowers to symbolize these different levels of class.

Here were my flower choices, and what they mean:

• Dandelion - overcoming hardship, resilience, healing from emotional/physical pain, emotional/spiritual intelligence, survival, long-lasting happiness and youthful joy, seeing wishes fulfilled

• Lettuce - never give up

• Thyme - courage, strength, thriftiness, activity, bravery, overcoming shyness

• Evergreen Clematis - poverty

• Cactus - endurance

• Kingcup - desire for riches

• Edelweiss - courage, devotion, adventure, sacrifice, difficulty

• Marigold - pain, grief, cruelty, jealousy, beauty and warmth of the rising sun, creativity, drive to succeed

• Tansy - hostile thoughts, health, longevity

• Yellow Carnation - disdain, rejection, disappointment

• Blackthorn - difficulty

• French Honeysuckle - rustic beauty

• Hibiscus - delicate beauty, fleeting fame, glory, femininity

• Hollyhock - ambition, abundance, fertility

• Sunflower - adoration, devotion, haughtiness, power, loyalty, strong bonds between friends, seeking positivity and strength, good luck, nourishing self and others

• Peony - bashfulness, shame, good marriage, good life, compassion, bringing honor to your family, wealth and riches, romantic love, beauty

• Lupine - happiness, inner strength to recover from trauma, new opportunities, positivity

• Myrtle - marriage, true love, good luck in marriage, chastity, marital fidelity, prosperity

• Bells of Ireland - luck

• Orchid - industry, enthusiasm, boldness, pride, luxury, wealth

• Angrec - royalty

• Coronella Dahlia - success, wealth, crown of riches

• Poppy - extravagance, slumber

• Trumpet Flower - fame

I planned on a color scheme of yellow, pink, white, orange, purple, and green, setting up the composition of the flowers within the bouquet so that the colors would be well mixed together.

I made a sketch of my plan on newsprint first.

Once my planning was complete, I was ready to start sketching the bouquet onto black paper. I'll have another post up in a couple days that shows the beginning stages of working on black.

Floral Coloring Pages

I've started to make some floral coloring pages to sell as instant PDF downloads on Etsy, but only have a few done so far. They're pretty time consuming to make. I want them to have a unique, almost hand-drawn feel (though they're created digitally), and also I want them to have a lot of detail (so they're great for adults, instead of just kids). So to make them I've been selecting a photo from my source images, and using that as a template to trace lines for a coloring page - making each line individually with the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator.

These aren't up on Etsy yet, but here's a sneak peek of the seven I have so far. These images show how the page might be colored, so they're half digitally colored and half untouched coloring page outlines.

You might recognize several of the source photos. The last image, the pink dahlia, was a source photograph I recently included in my post about Rochester, New York. And the first four images are based on photographs taken in my grandma's garden.

The clematis (the first image) and the pink lilies (the third image) I even made into 4"x6" colored pencil drawings on tan paper, which I framed as a set of four and gifted to her this past Christmas (and which was the subject of several blog posts back in January).

Once I have a few more complete, I'll put these coloring pages up on Etsy. In the meantime, check out my pattern coloring pages that are already there!

Completed "Grandma's Garden" Set

The last four posts have focused on the individual 4"x6" colored pencil drawings that make up this collection of four that gifted my grandma for Christmas this past December - and today I'm showing off the whole set of finished drawings.

Each was created with Prismacolor colored pencils and Strathmore toned tan paper.

To complete the gift, I fit them into a frame that held four 4"x6" images. The frame came with two white mats. I purchased it at Kohl's. (I have a similar frame, but in white, holding postcards from my honeymoon to Santorini, Greece in 2011, hanging in my own house.)

Though these drawings were a gift (and is therefore not for sale), I do have several similar floral colored pencil drawings, 5"x7" size, available through my Etsy shop!