Flower Power

There is no object that seems more forlorn than an empty vase. I have a few of them around, relics from floral gifts past. Occasionally, a few roses or other flowers from my yard might find their way into one of them. No fancy arrangements, though. I consider myself floral challenged.

There have been a couple of occasions lately where I thought it might be possible to rise above the challenge. I really don’t know why I tend to jump into big projects when attempting things that are outside my comfort zone. I felt my mosaic vase (It’s a Vaahse!) needed some silk flowers in it. One rule in floral arranging I do know. Large vases need large floral displays. A few months later, I can’t remember how many hours I spent on that arrangement trying to find a configuration I thought pleasing. I’m still not sure the final result thrills me, which is why only the bottom of the arrangement is shown in that blog post.

My older daughter gave me a flower arrangement for my birthday in September. I suppose I could have dried the whole thing while the flowers were at their peak, but the roses in it were a very pale pink. They would have turned brown. So I enjoyed the bouquet until it wilted, then picked out the components which were salvageable, such as the peacock feathers and dried, purple stasis. It seemed a shame to leave the cute green vase nearly empty, so I made another attempt at arranging.

Initially, I thought it might be easier to do a recreation of the bouquet my daughter gave me. I had a photo of it for reference. But when I was shopping for the flowers I changed my mind. After working as a graphic designer for several years and creating art of some sort most of my life, I tend to gravitate to stronger colors and like more contrast. I bought 2 large dahlias in dark blue and 3 multi-flower stems of pale gold ranunculus.

Sometimes, maybe smaller is better. I spent less than 20 minutes arranging the flowers in a design I could be happy with. I’m glad I made another attempt. My studio needed some flower power.

The Project Queen

 

The original bouquet from my daughter.