Symbolic Floral Colored Pencil Series

Last year, I made a few quick 8x10 colored pencil drawings before the November GRRRLS Like Us exhibition at the Village Theater in Canton, which I gave single-word names like "Endurance", "Anticipation", and "Shame."

"Endurance" 8x10 Colored Pencil Drawing by Andrea Arbit

These were part of what I envisioned as a much larger series, ultimately using the three colors of paper I have often used for colored pencil drawings in the past (black paper, toned tan paper, and gray paper), as well as four new, bright colors that I'd ordered from Dick Blick several months ago but hadn't yet experimented with (red, blue, yellow-orange, and green). 

I have a spreadsheet that lists ideas for 70 total drawings, including the three I've already made - ten drawings for each of the 7 different colors of paper. This could theoretically be expanded (as long as there are more different flowers I can think of to include, and more paper to buy!), but 70 is plenty for now. Each one takes me about a week to complete, which makes them easy to fit in between or do concurrently with other art projects, but they still do take time. I'm hoping to complete somewhere around 14-16 more before the end of 2018, depending on how busy I get with other things. (I also have plans for more acrylic paintings in the works, and I often get an Etsy order for a custom watercolor bouquet painting about once a month, especially during the spring and summer when a lot of couples have wedding anniversaries!)

"Anticipation" 8x10 Colored Pencil Drawing by Andrea Arbit

Each drawing will feature one type of flower/plant, and be given the title of one of the things the flower symbolizes. So for the ones I've already completed, I titled my drawing of succulents on black paper "Endurance", my drawing of anemones on tan paper "Anticipation", and my drawing on peonies on tan paper "Shame". 

The next several drawings I plan to do include:

• Hollyhock on red paper, titled "Ambition" *
• Pomegranate flowers on red paper, titled "Fertility" *
• Birds of Paradise on blue paper, titled "Flight"
• Pink Hyacinth on blue paper, titled "Playfulness"
• Heliotrope on gray paper, titled "Prophecy"
• Daisy on gray paper, titled "Loyalty"
• Sunflower on yellow paper, titled "Nourishment"
• Bouvardia on yellow paper, titled "Enthusiasm"
• Protea on green paper, titled "Transformation"
• Button Pom on green paper, titled "Hope"
• Bluebell on tan paper, titled "Constancy"
• Thyme on tan paper, titled "Strength"
• Black Eyed Susans on black paper, titled "Justice"
• Petunia on black paper, titled "Resentment"

* If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen these first two drawings. I finished them last month and posted a couple images of each then (this blog is often behind "real time"). Blog posts of the in-progress pics of those drawings will come later this week.

These are not attributes I've created, but rather symbolism that was widely used in Victoria England or other historical eras, and easily researched/found in charts of flower symbolism on the internet. Some are more positive sounding than others, of course; one of the drawings I most often received remarks about at the GRRRLS Like Us exhibition was "Shame" - people couldn't understand why I called it that, why peonies would be associated with shame, or who would want to buy and display a drawing of "Shame" in their home, beautiful though the drawing may be. 

"Shame" 8x10 Colored Pencil Drawing by Andrea Arbit

When I give a drawing a title like "Shame" (or "Endurance" or "Anticipation"), people look at it longer and try to figure out why it has that name. Sometimes there's a pretty clear biological connection (succulents are very enduring plants, which can survive with little water) or a clear visual connection (like how drooping red amaranthus plants, also called "love lies bleeding", symbolize sacrifice), but other times the title might leave people continuing to wonder why long after the first look. Why indeed did Victorian England poets and florists decide peonies should stand for shame? Furthermore - does it really matter? Who cares what they supposedly symbolize if you find them pretty? 

My inclusion of such words with negative connotations in this series is in part to point out the arbitrariness of some of these established symbols. I think the titles give a little extra substance to the drawings, but at the end of the day, they're still just titles. You can decide how much weight to put on the title of the work - or how much weight to give the drawing itself. You can decide if the title fits, or seems incongruous. It's just another layer to the drawing - one that doesn't even show up anywhere on the drawing itself. It's not like the word "Shame" is written across the drawing in big, bold letters. :)

I think the titles are interesting (I wouldn't use them otherwise), but really this series, like many of my projects, is just an excuse to what I want to make - pretty floral drawings (that have mass appeal and can be easily scanned and used for art prints or notecards) on pretty colored paper. Those bright Canson Me-Teintes color packs I bought from Dick Blick have been sitting on shelves in my studio for far too long, and I've been itching to draw on them.