This simple composition consists of three leaves — scented geranium, ivy, and sweet potato vine — surrounded by a faux double mat. Sometimes simple is best.
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I played a bit with a design I made several weeks ago when the first pressed flower heads of my Andromeda were ready. I tweaked the color scheme, narrowed the divider ribbons, added a neat embellishment at the center and gave the little andromeda trees some clusters of pressed Sweet Woodruff for a more vernal look. Maybe I’ll consider a series that represents all four seasons. Off to the Art of Craft in Cambridge tomorrow. Visit me at the Fayerweather School between 10:00 and 6:00. In the meantime, most of the work can be seen in my Etsy shop.
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.
I’ve been playing a lot with very organized foliage so thought it might be time for a return to a little craziness. This is also the first time I can remember mixing my Mexican Feathergrass with other plants. Some days you just have to go for it. I used a little simple origami to make trumpets out of rose petals and put them on dried twigs from a shrub that originally looked pretty much like this except without transplanted flowers. if you haven’t already noticed, there are no rules. See this and dozens more at my Etsy shop or, better still, see the work in person at The Art of Craft in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 11th (the day before Mother’s Day)
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 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.
Last season, my botanical art was strictly about pressed foliage. Going forward, I plan to continue to exand my exploration of the design possibilities my shade garden plants present. Lately, though, I succumbed to the temptation to begin incorporating some flowers as well. I think it all started when I became impassioned about saving my blizzard-damaged Andromeda. Following the advice of a master gardener, we waited until Spring to see if our listing tree would upright itself naturally. That didn’t happen, so we’ve moved to plan B — removing about 1/3 of the plant to lighten the load and make it possible for us to force the tree into an upright position. In the midst of all of this our Andromeda went on as if nothing had happened. By the time we pruned, we were removing brances laden with snowy clusters in full bloom as well as some still in bud stages. I chose a sampling to process in order to make my latest pressed botanical.
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.
My Stonington Garden 
