The Making of State Flowers: Kentucky

I was so excited when I finally made it onto being able to illustrate Kentucky's state flower: Goldenrod! Goldenrod is one of my favorite flowers, and I was so excited to be able to start on it, but this piece ended up being more of a challenge than I had anticipated.

The Goldenrod was established as the symbol for the state in 1926; about thirty varieties of the plant can be found throughout the state, which is no wonder the state chose it to be the flower!

The goldenrod, also known as Solidago, are members of the aster flower family. Goldenrod starts to bloom mid-late July and can be seen throughout the state till around September. They can be spotted in meadows, fields, and even on the roadsides. Goldenrod holds lots of significance, including meanings of good fortune, success, and prosperity. It is also believed that it is a symbol of strength, perseverance, and determination. The Goldenrod flower has about twenty-five different varieties, including the short goldenrod, which is critically endangered. You can look here to see how you can help fund/contribute to the conservation efforts

Now, tackling drawing golden rod took a bit of a challenge, the golden rod flower is a tiny yellow flower with multiple petals that grows in bundles. I knew if I had gone into detail on every single petal, I would have still been illustrating it now, so I had to compensate in other ways and go for a less detailed approach.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I ended up going with a pretty loose sketch, mainly to just get the general area of where the flowers were to go. I then wanted to fill in the area with the yellow before I started working on the outlines of the flowers. I thought this would give it a more appealing look, saying that all the other flowers in my series are pretty loose and have a consistent flow to them.

Being able to get the shape helped out a lot. I was then able to figure out how many individual flowers I was to draw and what direction they would go, without having to worry about much overlap.

After getting in all the line art for the flowers, the shading and slight highlights were pretty easy afterward. Even though I had finished the goldenrod plant, two other states share the flower as their state symbol, so I wanted to make it unique for Kentucky. I decided to add bluegrass because the bluegrass plant also plays an important role in the state's history.

Kentucky's nickname is the Bluegrass State; bluegrass is the common name given to the grass genus Poa, which is a common grass used for lawns in the northeast. Cut bluegrass is seen to be green; however, if grown long enough, in the spring, it will sprout bluish purple buds that give it a blue cast when seen in large fields, hence the name. The Bluegrass Region, which extends into southern Ohio, is characterized by underlying fossiliferous limestone, dolostone, and shale of the Ordovician geological age. Hills are generally rolling, and the soil is highly fertile for growing pasture. The Bluegrass Region is famous for its horse farms and, of course, the Kentucky Derby. Though in recent years, this region has become increasingly developed by residential and commercial properties, and farms, which help preserve the bluegrass, are slowly losing ground and sadly disappearing. The bluegrass region, and in itself, the bluegrass plant, has now been listed in a global list as one of the top 100 endangered sites. You can help donate and spread awareness here: World Monuments Fund.

Image courtesy of Farmers' Almanac

I wanted to add the bluegrass behind the goldenrod to help accent the flower, but also not be too distracting. I added two stems of the bluegrass, one on each side, so they would complement each other and have the goldenrod be the center of the piece.

Once I had the stems in, since the goldenrod in the illustration was pretty busy, I didn't want to add too much detail, so I focused on the color. As I stated previously, bluegrass is given a blueish-purple hue with the plants' buds. So I chose a blue/green color, which ended up being complementary to the goldenrod. I was so happy with the outcome of the illustration, and I feel like it showcased the state of Kentucky beautifully.