Flower Attributes Series - Update

More than two years ago, I posted that I was starting a series of 8"x10" colored pencil drawings of flowers. Each drawing would be of a different plant or flower species and be horizontal in orientation; their titles would be a single word: one of the attributes given to that flower - a word that someone had, once upon a time, decided that flower would symbolize.

I'd made 3 drawings in 2017 before deciding to expand it into a larger series. These first 3 drawings were:

• "Endurance" (Succulents)

• "Anticipation" (Anemone)

• "Shame" (Peony)

At this point I stopped, did a bit of research, and made a list of which flowers I might want to include in this series, what colored paper I would use for that drawing (out of the stock I had - red, green, blue, yellow, gray, tan, and black), and what title I would give it. Since many flowers have multiple attributes that they symbolize, and many flowers mean similar things, I wanted to make sure I was choosing different titles for each drawing. The list grew to be a total of 69 planned drawings (including the 3 I'd already done).

That was at the beginning of 2018. In the two and a half years since then, I've completed 30 more drawings from that list, 24 which I've already posted here, each with their own blog posts:

• "Ambition" (Hollyhock)

• "Fertility" (Pomegranate)

• "Flight" (Birds of Paradise)

• "Playfulness" (Pink Hyacinth)

• "Prophecy" (Heliotrope)

• "Loyalty" (Daisy)

• "Nourishment" (Sunflower)

• "Enthusiasm" (Bouvardia)

• "Hope" (Button Pom)

• "Transformation" (Protea)

• "Constancy" (Bluebell)

• "Strength" (Ginger)

• "Resentment" (Petunia)

• "Justice" (Black Eyed Susan)

• "Whimsy" (Purple Carnation)

• "Immortality" (Acanthus)

• "Fame" (Trumpet Flower)

• "Vitality" (Zinnia)

• "Balance" (Enchanter's Nightshade)

• "Modesty" (Violet)

• "Fragility" (Azalea)

• "Union" (Myrtle)

• "Wealth" (Alstroemeria)

• "Luck" (Bells of Ireland)

I've also completed another 6 drawings so far this year, which I haven't had a chance to post on this blog yet (look for those posts coming soon)!

I still have a long way to go before I finish all 69, but now that I've completed almost half of them (33 out of 69), I thought it would be a good time to check in and see how they look as a group altogether. I'm loving this series, and excited to see what they all look like together at the end!

"Playfulness" Colored Pencil Drawing

You can purchase this finished drawing here in my Etsy shop.

For this 8x10" drawing - part of my symbolic floral colored pencil series - I used blue Canson Mi-Teintes paper and Prismacolor brand pencils.

The title "Playfulness" comes from the symbolism given to pink hyacinth flowers, which I further developed by drawing the pink flowers and green leaves against this saturated blue paper, making the final piece burst with beautiful colors.

This first photograph shows the gathering of all the supplies I will need - my colored pencils, a sheet of blue paper, my pencil sharpener (resting in the little ceramic dish I use to collect my pencil shavings), and a source photograph of pink hyacinth flowers I found on Google images.

I started with a very light sketch, blocking off the different colors - pink flowers, green stems and leaves - to get a feel for the whole composition.

Then I started adding in details. Each hyacinth stalk is made up of several smaller flowers, so for this particular drawing there were a LOT of details. Each individual six-petaled flower had to be drawn with multiple colors - medium and dark pinks, white and light pinks for the highlights, and dark purple-black for the shadows.

I also used several different pencils to build up the leaves, stems, and little hyacinth buds - this time using multiple shades of yellow and green. I used the same dark purple for the shadows, and the same white for the highlights.

For the hyacinth stalks in the front, I used lighter colors and a lot more white. It took several layers to build up the colors so that the blue paper would only minimally show through and I would get the level of saturation I wanted.

For the hyacinth stalks in the back, I used red and peach colored pencils (in addition to the pinks I was already using for the other hyacinth). I used the white pencil minimally, and colored more parts of the hyacinth in with the dark purple pencil, so that more of the back hyacinth would be in shadow.

Here is the completed drawing:

For the next two colored pencil drawings I have planned for this series, I will be using gray colored paper. Check for those blog posts in probably a month or so. :)

You can purchase this finished drawing here in my Etsy shop.

NYC Photos - Channel Gardens

When my husband and I were on vacation in New York City the first weekend of April, it was also Easter weekend. As a result, the Channel Gardens floral display outside of the 30 Rock building (part of the Rockefeller Center) was overflowing with beautiful flowers typical of spring/Easter - white lilies, pink carnations, yellow daffodils, purple hyacinth, and tiny tree blossoms.

There were also topiaries sculpted into the shapes of flowers and butterflies (which honestly didn't look too great - the weather was pretty chilly, and the topiaries were looking a little brown), as well as a giant rotating bunny, balancing a colorful floral Easter egg on its nose.

We visited the Rockefeller Center the day before Easter - Saturday, March 31 - and they were setting up for an Easter egg hunt in front of the ice rink. Given how the colder-than-average weather persisted well into April, I can't imagine these flowers stayed looked great very long after Easter - but at least I got some good photos in while they were still freshly planted! :)