"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.