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!

"Wealth" Colored Pencil Drawing

As always, this blog is a little behind "real time." As such, even though I've had blog posts of colored pencil drawings this year already, those were all drawings I finished in 2019. This drawing - "Wealth" on green paper - marks the first artwork I started and completed in 2020, since the birth of my baby girl! I drew this over the course of several days in February 2020 - a few minutes here and there, while she was napping.

This 8"x10" drawing is of alstroemeria flowers, commonly called "Peruvian lilies," which symbolize wealth and status (among other things). I used Prismacolor brand pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes green paper.

First, I started with a light sketch of where I wanted each flower to go:

Then I started adding in details and dimension, petal by petal:

Finally, I added dimension and detail to the greenery in the background, also darkening the flower petals to add more contrast as I went:

Here's the final drawing:

I'm not yet putting these drawings on Etsy at this time. The items that sell best on my Etsy shop are notecards and other art prints, rather than originals, and it wasn't worth my time (and the listing costs) to continue posting all my original drawings and paintings on there as well. I'm in the process of looking into other places where I might sell my work instead - but in the meantime, if you see anything on this blog that you're interested in, please contact me at afrownfe@gmail.com! This drawing and most of my other 8"x10" colored pencil drawings on this blog are all available for sale, so don't be afraid to reach out if see something you'd like to own!

Summer Flowers

In spring, my front yard blooms with tulips. In summer, it blooms with lilies!

The north side of our house also has some beautiful landscaping now - ferns, astilbe, and hosta. Below is a shot of the pink astilbe shoots, as well as an early hosta bud, taken in July.

My front yard also has 3 hydrangea bushes - two small ones and one giant one, which is now too tall for me to trim! The tallest one doesn't bloom until the fall, but these two little ones started showing their flowers in July.

I love being able to take pictures of flowers without even having to leave my property! :)

Sympathy Flower Bouquets

The week I got a D&C at nearly nine weeks pregnant for my missed miscarriage was an understandably emotional week for me - which is why I'm so grateful to my parents and my in-laws for sending me sympathy bouquets. They arrived on the same day, one box from ProFlowers stacked on top of another box from 1-800-Flowers on my porch.

My parents sent colored roses and my in-laws sent alstroemeria (a.k.a. Peruvian lilies), both of which came with a beautiful purple vase. Here are some of my favorite photographs of those flower bouquets, which I'll add to my personal floral photography collection.

Spring & Summer Landscape Photos

These photos were all taken in May-July in my front and side yards.

I planted a few dozen hybrid tulips in the fall, imagining our front yard bursting with color in the spring. They bloomed late and then didn't stick around long (I didn't spray enough deer repellent, and the deer that frequent our subdivision ate most of them), but I did manage to grab a couple great photos:

I also took pictures of the pretty blossoms on the crabapple tree in our front yard, as well as the red lilies and roses:

My hydrangea bushes (I have one very large one, and two small ones now) are also doing well (the large one especially):

The biggest front yard story of the spring/summer, however, was this little mama duck, who made a nest in our bushes, incubated 8 or 9 eggs, and then one day vanished - leaving one sad, unhatched egg behind.

Last fall, we also did a lot of work to our side yard landscaping, planting several hosta, ferns, and astilbe - all of which, I'm happy to say, came back and looked great this spring/summer, with little watering or attention given on our parts. I love the pop of color on the astilbe, especially: