A Summer of Peonies

Working in a creative industry, it is really easy to become burnt out doing the thing which you love doing the most, so this Summer I set myself a challenge. I decided to draw for nobody else but myself. This little mini series of peonies will probably never be anything more than that, but I loved sketching them and that is what's important.

For my medium, I chose to use a fine liner and watercolour paper. I wanted to use a medium that wasn't messy and that could be easily accessible. Travel was also an important factor when I decided on using pen. I did however want to have a little twist to this series, so I used the same pen for all of the sketches which meant my palette was restricted to a peach colour. This ties all of the drawings together in the series and looks visually pleasing on the eye. Using a monochromatic colour scheme also alleviated having to chose colours, so I could simply pick up my pen and start sketching where I had left off.

Peonies are my favourite flower, but not one which I would typically draw because of the amount of petals they have. Having a subject which inspired me was instrumental to how I approached these drawings. It was a lovely way to spend the in between moments of the summer holidays when I didn't have enough time or energy to work, but still wanted to do something creative whilst looking after my young children.

The final collection had 6 designs in, each of a completely different peony. I'd love to continue this on a series, keeping the idea of fine line pen drawings, but perhaps changing the colour for the next in the series, so watch this space.