Marchitar | Posted: Nov. 10, 2016, 5:58 p.m.

Media: Faber Castell pen and mechanical pencil on sketchbook paper

Time: ~2.5 hours

"Marchitará la rosa el viento helado" -- Garcilaso de la Vega, "En tanto que de rosa y azucena." I secretly enjoyed Spanish literature back in 12th grade, mostly because my teacher was passionate and incredibly supportive. I took regular Spanish in 11th grade because I thought AP Spanish Composition would be too much of a time commitment, given the rest of my schedule. In 12th grade, I thought about taking AP Spanish Literature, but I wasn't sure if I was qualified to take it. However, Senora urged me to take it, and I will forever thank her for what I consider to be my favorite language class. I even had the opportunity to incorporate my art history experience in one of my Spanish lit papers.

Sadly, my Spanish is at best mediocre at this point. Necesito practicar!

Back to the art analysis:

When I worked on this piece, I planned on creating another series of eight sketches (like "Skull Sketches") because I love working with pencil and Faber Castell pen. While I initially planned to work from a still life, I ended up working from online reference images because it was more convenient.

I am quite satisfied with the shading on this piece and am pleasantly surprised that I was able to create such depth.