The Next Step

My arrangement is looking a little tired today, so I rearranged the best looking blossoms into new vases.  I gathered the pink alstroemeria into a bouquet and placed it in a vintage bear shaped jar.  These were placed next to the front door.

Next, I put orange lilies in an old cut-glass decanter.  The bear grass adds a little movement.

I floated a gerbera daisy and one mum.  The dark stones in the bottom of the vase add a little weight and dimension to the arrangement.

I have seen this idea done in arrangements in magazines.  I had a left over lime and some clementines on my counter, so I decided to give it a try.  It’s a little tricky.   The slices should be thin, and it helps to layer a vase inside of another vase so that the slices stay supported on the sides.  They do a fairly good job of hiding the stems of the mums.  I will try this again in the future with more fruit and flowers.

Finally, I gathered three small mums and added them to a small bear jar for my desk.  They make the perfect hat for him and the flowers brighten my work space.

Pick-me-up

I have always bought flowers into our home when we entertain or have company.   Sometimes the flowers catch my eye in the grocery and I buy them “just because”.  A few months ago, I purchased some flowers for the specific purpose to cheer myself up.  Nothing fancy, I just felt a connection between needing a little pick-me-up and the flowers that greeted me as I entered the store.   Last week, I saw an article on the internet about an actual psychological study on the effect of flowers and mood.  Jeannette Haviland-Jones, PhD, director of the Human Development Lab at Rutgers University found “flowers have immediate and long-term positive effects on reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females.”   She went on to say, “All age groups in the study exhibited emotions of extraordinary delight and gratitude after receiving flowers, encouraging more positive behavior in social activity—such as eye contact and sincere smiling.  The mere presence of flowers in subjects’ homes led to increased contact with friends and family, indicating that we share with our loved ones when happy emotions are triggered.  Flowers are a natural mood booster with direct long-term positive effects on emotional well-being.”    Now, that’s pill worth taking!

I encourage you to add flowers to your next grocery list.  Let them do their work of cheering and inspiring your family and bringing you closer together.

Your flowers need a little maintenance in the days after you arrange them.  The water should be changed and the stems trimmed a little to allow more water to get to the blooms.  This also gives you the opportunity to tweak the arrangement and study your flowers.   As I changed the water in my flowers today, I remembered a tip for helping the flowers stay fresh.  Add one teaspoon of bleach to a quart of water.  Sounds odd, but the bleach keeps bacteria from growing in the water.  Also, make sure no greenery is in the water—just stems.  

Look at the lily that has just opened!  I thought these lilies had brown spots, but these are actually a deep purplish-pink.  Lovely!  This calls for a different vase—this dark pink one allows the flowers room  to find their own space and the color compliments the pinks.

This is the bud which greets me in the morning and says good night at the end of the day.

Be a Florist

Sometimes I work a long time at trying to solve a problem in my mind.  I mull things over, make written notes, talk them over with friends, but the solution just eludes me.   It seems to sit just out of reach.  I know it’s there, but I just cannot access it.  It is a challenging puzzle and I cannot make all the pieces fit properly.  This past year, I have wondered how to make the art I do more meaningful, how could I write more, how can I work to make everyday activities more creative and incorporate more joy and beauty into every day?  How to balance all my interests and see meaning with the way they combine? 

Recently, I was with a group of friends when someone posed the question, “What would you do if you could do anything and not have to make a living doing it?”  I blurted out, “Be a Florist.”  Now where did that come from?  I have always loved flowers and I can associate types of flowers and colors with most of the people in my life, past and present, as well as attach memories of flowers to most significant events in my life.  I love to arrange flowers, even though I don’t know a great deal about the proper way to do so.  Flowers beckon to me and move me when I observe them.  I especially love the way their vibrant colors combine in unusual combinations that always work well together.  In my art, I am a colorist.  I am thrilled when vibrant colors collide and challenge one another; my heart can skip a beat when colors vibrate and practically leap off a canvas.   Could this be another piece of the puzzle I have been trying to solve?

Two evenings ago, my husband and daughter ran an errand to the grocery and returned with a lovely bunch of flowers in addition to the milk and bread.  I was filled with joy by the gift and touched deeply.  As I began to arrange them, I was moved by how interesting a process it can be to arrange flowers while I marveled at the color explosions as different color combinations met.  The next morning, I awoke with the solution to the puzzle!  I would start a blog about flowers and challenge myself to learn to arrange flowers.    I would let those colors lead me to more fully explore my love of color in my art.  As I have more fully pondered this decision to blog, I realize there are many more reasons why I think this is a very good idea; I will let those evolve as the blog evolves.

The large bouquet contains many colors, but the general color scheme is orange and green.  Lovely!  I love how loose and casual this looks in this trumpet shaped vase.  It cheers the family room of our house.

The bouquet more than filled my largest vase.  I divided the flowers between two vases and even floated a couple of blossoms whose stem broke into a small cup.  I’ve never floated flowers before, but it looks nice and cheery on the corner of my kitchen sink.

I removed the light pink roses from the large bouquet and combined them with some orange spray roses in a polka dotted vase.  I added accents with the bright fuchsia filler and the lime green mums.  I placed this arrangement next to the front door to greet us.  One last pink rose went into a vase on my bedside table.