A few posts ago, I showed the same graphic in different colors. That version was cropped and used dill as a filler to drape over the edges of the base. This time, I centered the full image, changed the color scheme and fashioned some minimalist “flowers” out of Roses, Sweet Woodruff, and Ivy. I have yet a third one in the works in some colors that will jump out of the frame. Can’t wait to design the contents of the vase.
I’m not sure why these little pairings remind me of daggers today. The last time I arranged ivy in this way, I called it a bow and used it to tie off a pretty double-tipped frond of ferns.
This is the last, for a while, in my series of collages made with pressed rose petals. I substituted ivy for the sepal of my ersatz roses and placed each one in a pastel yellow oval. A cross between, floral art and deviled eggs? I still have some Mexican Feather Grass in my inventory. Maybe that will be next on my agenda for right-side brainstorming. Is there such a thing?
I loved making this vase which could have come straight out of a coloring book. It is simply constructed as a word document using overlapping ovals, squares and triangles with wide black borders. To erase the parts of the borders that needed to be invisible, I used more borderless circles and squares. In all, the simple little vase is probably constructed of about 10 or 12 superimposed shapes.
I filled my vase with dill and made the flower with dried petals from my Andromeda that I treated with floral preservative then dusted with shavings from blue pastel chalk. I think I’ll make another one in just black and white so the foliage will pop even more.
To see the whole collection, go to my Etsy shop.
I create all of my graphic backgrounds with Microsoft Word. For me, at least, this is never as easy as I expect. It’s taken me a long time to master the intricacies of adding shapes, erasing lines, modifying color, superimposing images, embedding text, and — today’s lesson — modulating color. For this swirl of Azalea leaves, I wanted a background that started light and deepened as it descended the page. I started by trying to wing it.Highlight a few lines, Click on “format” click on “shading” select a color for a stripe. Click on the same color, then click on more colors, then click on “custom”, then move the arrow…and so on. It didn’t go smoothly. Then it occurred to me to look at the luminosity numbers next to the color scale gauge. Eureka. Check out my other backgrounds in my Etsy shop.
I have other ideas that seem like they will be easy to execute, like creating a color block “vase” with nothing but lines and shapes. We’ll see. It never turns out to be as easy as I expect when I envision it at 5:OO AM.
I had, and still have a small cache of ready graphics just waiting to be paired with small pressed botanicals. Today, I sorted much of it out. I left the tiny ivy in its natural state and added some color to my azalia in order to compliment the backgrounds. Everything in the garden is starting to come to life so I guess I’m feeling pressure to finish the business of the last growing season.
Sadly, our URI horticultural expert was overly optimistic in thinking our Andromeda might spring back upright after it was bent over by a blizzard so we’ve moved on to plan B which was a drastic pruning designed to lighten the plant by a ton or so. I have so many healthy branches I’m hoping neighbors will take cuttings to root or just to display. That will leave plenty for me to press.
As I said in my last post, I’m thinking of incorporating flowers into my botanical art for the first time. There’s so much beauty in foliage that I never saw the need, but I couldn’t resist using these roses this week.
So yesterday I went in one direction and today in another with a different look but an equally nostalgic result. Next we’ll go to a black background and see what feels different. Manwhile, my fallen but not uprooted Andromeda is in full bloom so I have some drupes of flowers in process. They should be ready soon.
I always use my own plants to make my botanical art — well, almost always. I received these lovely little roses as a hostess gift a few weeks ago. Rather than waiting for them to fade, I dried some in silica gel and arranged them in a lovely little vase. I disassembled the rest and pressed them. When the time came to design a background for the first of them, I couldn’t resist my natural sentimentality. It is spring. These are roses. Love is in the air. Why not? Since I tend to go back and forth between my traditional and modern compositions the next rose collage you see may not be as sweet but it will still be as rosy. Did I really write that?
Anyway, you can find this and dozens more in my Etsy shop.
I finally got a chance to create a graphic for the vibrant fern I found still growing in my Stonington Garden. I’ve lost count of the number of snowstorms we’ve had this year, but the fact that this was still plump and green in March — and with a double tip to boot — was quite a happy surprise. I kept it simple with a little miniature ivy ‘bow’ at the base and a faux mat fashioned with graphics alone. (The outer mat is real of course)
I put my botanicals into three general categories — abstract, representational, and traditional. I’ve spent a lot of time on the first two lately. Time to move on to some more traditional pieces — with a twist I hope.
Lois Lawrence Art 
