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.