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

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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I've already finished the first layer of this bouquet on my 19x25" black Canson Mi-Teintes paper, putting down the light sketch and working out where all of the flowers will go. Now, it's time to start building up more color, detail, and dimension by working through each flower one-by-one.

I started with the yellow hibiscus in the upper left corner. I used seven colored pencils for this small group of tropical flowers - black, two shades of green, red, magenta, yellow, and cream.

Next, I finished up the pink hollyhock stalk, using a white colored pencil, pink, two shades of red, yellow, yellow-green, green, and black.

In between those first two flowers is a group of bells of Ireland. I used three shades of green for this interesting shaped plant, as well as a white colored pencil for highlights and a black colored pencil for shadows and to define edges.

To the right of the hollyhock, I worked on the sunflowers. I used three shades of green, yellow, cream, white, orange, brown, and black colored pencils to complete these cheery flowers.

Back on the left side of the bouquet, I used two shades of red colored pencils, pink, white, and two shades of green, to draw in the French honeysuckle plant.

For the the sixth flower - a group of dandelions - I used black, brown, orange, tan, yellow, white, and green pencils.

I'm now a quarter of the way done with this "building up layers of color" stage. Only 18 more flowers (and a vase) to complete, and another one of these bouquet drawings will be finished!

"Class Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 2

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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As is typical with these 19x25 colored pencil drawings, I first planned out the composition for this second-to-last drawing on newsprint. Once that plan was in place, it was time to move on and lightly sketch the flowers onto black paper. Today's blog post will look at the first dozen flowers, and the initial sketches I did on black paper as I started to slowly build up the bouquet.

I started with the pink and green flowering cactus in the middle of the drawing:

Then added yellow kingcups below that:

And marigolds:

And yellow carnations off to the right:

Above the cactus went in a clump of dandelions:

These white blossoms are blackthorn flowers:

Over on the left side of the drawing, I added in yellow tansy:

While the orange coronella dahlia went in on the right side:

Next, I sketched in a duet of pale pink peonies:

Filling out the left side, I added in some white myrtle flowers:

Pink French honeysuckle were drawn in above the myrtle:

And finally, in the upper left corner, I sketched in some yellow hibiscus:

This is half of the bouquet sketched in. Check back again in a few days for another blog post on the next twelve flowers. Then, once everything is sketched in, I'll start going over with more color, adding dimension and detail throughout the bouquet.

"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.

"28 Years" - Year #18

For general information about this 22"x30" colored pencil drawing, see this blog post.
For more information about the flower symbolism I used (Years 15-28) and life events that led me to select those particular flowers, see this blog post.

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I used zinnia and dandelion to represent my 18th year.

• Zinnia: symbol of endurance, lasting affection, daily remembrance, and thoughts of absent friends
• Dandelion: symbol of resilience, overcoming hardship, healing from emotional/physical pain, emotional/spiritual intelligence, survival, long-lasting happiness and youthful joy, and getting wishes fulfilled

First, I drew outlines of the plants on black paper:

These were the two botanical drawings I used as reference while I worked (I do not own either of these; I found them on Google):

Once I had my outline in place, I lightly sketched in the dandelions first, and then the zinnia second.

I started adding more detail and color to the zinnia petals.

I filled in the rest of the drawing, coloring in the leaves and stems of the zinnia, and then moving on to the dandelion flowers, the white flower-gone-to-seed, and the weedy leaves.

Here is the whole drawing so far. There will be three more "mini-drawings" in this row, and then seven in the final row at the bottom. Only ten more to go!