Sketch of the Week: More Iris

I'm not an especially religious person myself, but I've always noticed that churches tend to have nice flowerbeds. From the hyacinth clusters I used to see every spring at the Presbyterian church in Lake Forest, to the iris blooms I've been encountering here in Roswell, when it comes to active religious buildings there rarely seems to be a shortage of flowers. I suppose it makes sense with wanting to project God's beneficence on Earth and all.

This iris was drawn at the First Baptist Center down on Pennsylvania Ave. Like last week's iris, I combined different drawing media here, but I think it's been done more successfully this time. Whereas last week I had done the pencil charcoal work first and then drew the pen and ink on top, this time around I just roughly sketched in the petals with a pencil and then went all-out with my speedball pen, only adding the charcoal afterwards. As a result, the lines feel freer to me in this drawing, as they were defining the forms rather than tracing them. I also thought the charcoal was used to better effect, evoking the dark velvety purple of the bearded petals.

Now that I think of it, I really need to do something with all these New Mexico iris. I've only been sketching them every spring since what, 2014? That's plenty for an invented bouquet.