Flower Attribute Notecards - Blue & Green Set

As mentioned, I have several new notecard variety packs available in my Etsy shop, including new designs from my "Flower Attribute" series. Today's blog post is featuring the "Blue & Green" set, which includes scans from the 10 colored pencil drawings I've completed on blue or green paper.

The ten designs included in this notecard set are:

• Flight (Birds of Paradise) on blue paper
• Playfulness (Hyacinth) on blue paper
• Immortality (Acanthus) on blue paper
• Whimsy (Carnation) on blue paper
• Creativity (Dahlia) on blue paper
• Faith (Iris) on blue paper
• Hope (Button Poms) on green paper
• Transformation (King Protea) on green paper
• Wealth (Astroemeria) on green paper
• Luck (Bells of Ireland) on green paper

Love the style of these notecards, but wish you could swap out a few for other floral designs I have? I also have a U-Pick listing where you can mix-and-match among all my floral colored pencil design and color options and build the perfect stationery set for your preferences!

"Faith" Colored Pencil Drawing

The first colored pencil drawing I completed after our move to Ann Arbor was this one, of iris flowers on blue paper, which I drew in February 2021. Springtime iris flowers represent "faith" - something I personally connect a lot with hope, pride, and self-reliance. I have faith in myself, in my support system, and (usually) in humanity as a whole (though admittedly that faith has been tested quite a bit these last few years). 

As usual, I used Prismacolor brand pencils and Canson Mi-Teintes blue paper for this 8"x10" drawing, and I started with a light sketch to lay out where I wanted the iris flowers to lay compositionally on the page.

Once that initial sketch was complete, I went through and added details like veining on the petals, as well as highlights and shadows to give dimension. I ultimately used 10 colors: white, yellow, light green, dark green, dark blue, two dark purples (a blueish purple and a reddish purple), light purple, light blue, and a dark pink.

Behold the finished drawing:

 

What do you guys think of my new studio setup? I worked on this drawing after my daughter went to bed (so no natural light coming in through the windows). I have my colored pencil desk set up under one of the recessed lights in the ceiling, and I also had a spotlight desk lamp situated directly over the page. I think you can definitely see a difference in the photos at the very least - they're better lit than photos of my colored pencil works-in-progress used to be!

NYC Photos - Botanical Gardens Rock Garden

The New York Botanical Gardens has an area called the Rock Garden, which is where many of the outdoor flowers could be found when my husband and I were there during our NYC vacation in early April. They had several pretty spring flowers in bloom - hellebore, snowdrops, irises, daffodils, and crocus especially.

Other than the Rock Garden and just a few other places on the grounds, most of the other flowers we looked at were in the large conservatory greenhouse, or in the staff-only greenhouses, which we got to peak in with my husband's cousin, who is a horticulturalist at the Botanical Gardens. Check back soon for more photo updates!

NYC Photos - Botanical Gardens in Spring

When my husband and I took a vacation to New York City at the end of March/beginning of April, one of the highlights was visiting the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. My husband's cousin works there as a horticulturalist, and he gave us a VIP tour of the place (including a peak inside some of the staff-only greenhouses)! There was also an amazing orchid show in the conservatory greenhouse and some nice spring color starting to bloom in the Rock Garden.

Because the weather was colder-than-average for much of March and April, there wasn't a whole lot else to look at yet, flower-wise... but I did manage to take some nice pictures of flowers in the Botanical Gardens grounds! My favorites are below:

I have a lot more photos of the Botanical Gardens to share, including pictures of the aforementioned orchid show, the other plants in the conservatory greenhouse, spring flowers growing in the Rock Garden, and even some pictures from the staff-only greenhouses - so make sure to check back! I'll be making future posts with more pictures soon.