#33: Iris

Inspiration:
On a beautiful spring day I went outside to begin cleaning up my gardens. You know, weeding, dividing and moving perennials, that sort of thing. I noticed one perfect blossom on my dwarf iris plant. It was stunning. Since I had already tried drawing some iris from a  picture for my online Heirloom Garden class, I decided to try drawing one from life.

#33: Iris

5" X 8" colored pencil on vellum

What I like about the drawing:
I was really pleased with the depth of color I achieved by using many layers of colored pencil. The petals are very rich and almost look velvety. I used sgraffito to lighten up edges of the petals and expose under layers of different colors for highlights. 

What I might do differently: 
I used the wrong side of the paper. This is a rough vellum and up until this picture, I had been using the smoother, back side. I had a very difficult time covering the white of the paper. However, that may have been a 'happy accident' since the layers of colored pencil contribute to the richness of the end result.

What I learned: 
I discovered that I could burnish with the violet pencil, and still have other color show through. I tried burnishing a test spot with cream and didn't like how it dulled the colors. So, since the annoying white indentations of the paper continued to show,  I had no choice but to keep rubbing.

Sitting in the iris bed