The Heirloom Garden in Colored Pencil

Old-fashioned flowers, veggies, pollinators and more

Not long after the wedding ceremony, newly married couples in ancient Greece would head for the public gardens and dig up orchid roots. According to tradition, eating a thick, sturdy root would ensure that their firstborn was a boy. For a girl baby, they dined on the longest, thinnest root they could find.

Orchids no longer have a place in family planning, but throughout human history these exotic beauties have been treasured for other reasons. Their unusual forms make them a perfect subject for our introductory lesson.

In Part 1, we will create a preliminary pencil sketch -- the first step of the journey to a finished colored pencil drawing.( It’s a technique that also works beautifully for field sketching flowers in the garden.)

Watch the video for all the way through and print the illustrated pdf pages before you begin to draw.