"28 Years" - Year #23

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 chose peony and myrtle flowers to symbolize my 23rd year.

• Peony: symbol of a good marriage, a good life, compassion, honor, wealth, riches, romantic love, beauty, bashfulness, and shame
• Myrtle: symbol of marriage, true love, good luck in love and marriage, chastity, marital fidelity, and prosperity

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

These are the two botanical drawings I looked at for reference while I worked (I do not own either image; I found them on Google):

Once I decided the placement of the flowers and had the graphite outline down, I started lightly shading in the colors.

I finished up the myrtle first, pressing harder with the colored pencils so that more pigment was laid down against the black paper.

Then, I worked on finishing up the peonies. I used several shades of pink, peach, and red to get the dimensionality right on the petals.

Here is the entire drawing so far. Only five more "mini drawings" to go until this large 22"x30" piece is complete!