More flowers for the Garden Art Party on Saturday

It's been a busy day, made flowers for a few more arrangements and had time to shoot one that I had completed a couple of days ago. I hope to finish flowers for a few more arrangements before putting the flower making for Saturday's Garden Art Party to bed. Plus I have a wedding order due on 12/26, back East so I have to start working on her order tomorrow. Not to mention start getting the studio cleaned and rearranged for the Garden Art Party and prepare the food. The above image is my interpretation of "quench". I love these two tone orange and pink roses. So vibrant.
This particular purple anemone with light purple garden roses seems to be my most popular piece of late. I think because of the striking balance between light and dark purples. I thought it was fitting to use zenatona's "balance" canvas print with this photo. It is a perfect "balance" between light and dark and I realized the texture in the black sand is similar to the texture in the center of the anemone flowers!
This next piece is my interpretation of "blush". Such a beautiful combination! This is the first time I've tried to compliment "blush" with my clay flowers.
Here's a work in progress. Final photos will be updated tomorrow. I still have to paint the orchids and varnish the anthuriums, but I love how this pandan box from Eco-Friendly Market looks as the vase for this arrangement. I created this piece to go with zenatona's "sunkiss" print. It's my all-time favorite image Debbie captured. It is the essence of Hawaii in my mind.

The last piece is a yellow ranunculus arrangement. I made some for my "sunkiss" piece and decided that it was such a beautiful color that I would create some more for a smaller arrangement and I love how it looks against "maya". One day I hope to create something specific to go with "maya" because it is OH SO BEAUTIFUL! :)
Well, back to my studio to create more flowers. The turn out is expected to be pretty good on Saturday. Looking at probably 25-30 people if everyone shows so I'm excited to see and hear what people have to say about our work!

Flower Magazine - Artist in Bloom Feature

Late last week I received the winter issue of Flower Magazine. This is a wonderful magazine focused on flowers of course. I was contacted back in late September by one of their editors, who asked if they could interview me for the winter issue. The magazine is published out of Alabama and is distributed in 12 states. They have a special feature article they do in each issue titled, "Artist in Bloom". It focuses on artists who create in various mediums and art forms with the one central theme, flowers.I was so honored that the editors found me and asked to do a feature. With magazine editorial so tight these days, I was so lucky to get 2 pages in their magazine. This particular issue focuses on wedding flowers which is awesome and a perfect issue to be in! I was also very fortunate to use the photos from Stewart Pinsky Photography, Allure West Studios, and Debbie Friedrich Photography. Thank you to them who help bring out the best qualities of my clay floral designs!
If you don't get this publication in your area, you can order it online.

Southern Weddings Magazine = LOVE

So last night I was not in the right frame of mind to work on flowers after the memorial services for my grandmother so I decided to relax and finally sit down to read my personal copy of Southern Weddings Magazine. Low and behold, I was reading about the Behind the Scenes of the Serenbe photo shoot and I looked at some of the pictures and realized in two of the behind the scenes photos were my gardenia hair flowers!!! I was so excited I was jumping up and down (okay, in my head). Here's the page in the magazine that I scanned. Click on the images of the magazine to order your personal copy today, you won't be disappointed!
Also today, the ladies of Southern Weddings Magazine did a blog post and had pictures of their office which was very well done and very well written. My hair flowers were on their bulletin boards!
(above photo courtesy of Southern Weddings Magazine blog)
I have to say after reading the magazine, it's like a journey, a story, you don't feel like you're being shot at with a ton of advertisements or pushing you to buy something. It's photo journalism at it's best in my mind. These women have something so SOLID and so FRESH!

If you're not already reading Southern Weddings Magazine Blog, you should be. There are so many great tips, inspirations photos from real Southern weddings and just awesome writing!

Countdown to the Garden Art Party

I'm getting really excited about the Garden Art Party with dear friend, Debbie Friedrich of zenatona! We had a great catch up session and were ironing out all the details for Saturday's wonderful event. I've been continuing to create pieces. In total as of tonight I have 9 new arrangements to showcase and sell. Hopefully I will have plenty more as I have a few more arrangements I want to create using zenatona art as my inspiration.I decided to make a piece that goes with "breeze". Granted there are no teal colored flowers, but I had this stunning antique style mercury glass vase that was the perfect teal color. So I decided to create ranunuculus and debated what the other flower would be. I had already done dendrobiums so I had hoped to do something different. I had a left over flower from Sally's order and it hit me... gardenias! So this is how it turned out. Then another idea hit me, take a photo of our 2 pieces together! All I have to say is absolute PERFECTION! I'm not trying to sound conceited in the least bit, but I truly see how Debbie and my art go so well together. I think our creativity and encouragement is deeply rooted in our friendship. We are so supportive of one another, always try to encourage and throw out ideas to help grow and blossom. :)

The other two prints of zenatona below are "peace" and "bee polly". One of Debbie's motto's is "adding juicy bursts of color to your home" It's interesting because honestly when I first started doing clay flowers, I had the worst eye for color. I had a hard time trying to do bold or vibrant colors and I was stuck on pastels. Somehow I broke out of that shell and I can see just how vibrant and juicy my flowers have become. :)I decided to take a couple other pictures of my work and Debbie's so you can see just what I mean. I hope that the people who come to the Garden Art Party will see how well these two arts pair together and will want both pieces to showcase in their home or give as gifts. Well, back to work, lots to do before Saturday...

Another beautiful arrangement for the Garden Art Party

I haven't gotten much done today in the way of flowers because I had to teach for 4 hours. Teaching is always fun even though afterwards I feel completely exhausted. Probably because I'm not used to talking all the time and guiding people through the projects. Believe me it's easier to just sit and make flowers for 16 hours straight. LOL. I had a great time with my students today and had one of my newly certified instructors practice teach.
This morning before my class I arranged this particular floral design piece. I didn't have time to paint it until after my classes were finished and after my husband, son and I decorated the Christmas tree.I wasn't sure how this one would turn out because the purple hydrangeas were darker than I had envisioned. However after I finished painting and doing all the detail work, I have to say I'm quite pleased with the final result. I added branches instead of monkey tail ferns to make it a little lighter since the vase is very thick with flowers at the base. The green cymbidiums really help to make the whole arrangement pop! This will be one of the more expensive arrangements for sale, but it will give the people attending an idea of what is possible with the clay flowers. I don't do just small arrangements, but big ones too!

Looking forward to this week even though it will be busy with saying goodbye to my dearly departed grandmother on Tuesday and finishing up all the arrangements and starting a bridal bouquet order for my client getting married the day after Christmas. Lots to do so I better get back to the studio and start creating... :)

Some New Arrangements for the Garden Art Party

It's that time again to create some pieces to sell for the Garden Art Party that zenatona and DK Designs are hosting at the DK Designs studio this coming Saturday. We had such a wonderful time in San Diego in October doing the 1st Garden Art Party that Debbie Friedrich of zenatona had envisioned that we decided to do it up in the Bay Area! The above arrangement was inspired by zenatona's "posey" print.
These are a couple Christmas inspired arrangements I created. Granted the orchids and tuberose aren't flowers you consider to be Christmas flowers, but the greens and whites really accent the deep reds of the anemones and the English roses. I love the top one because it reminds me of a Christmas ornament on the bottom and it's fun and whimsical with the berry branches the greens fillers and the red glitter embellished petals!I cannot take credit for this wonderful idea. It was all Debbie's vision and she was so sweet enough to ask me to be her partner in art for the Garden Art Party. Granted the one on Saturday will not be in a "garden" environment due to the weather and the fact that I don't have a nice garden, but it was great timing since my studio is essentially done.Here are some new pieces that I have made to sell. Some of them are inspirations from zenatona art, but some of them are just my own clay version of juicy bursts of color (another phrase that zenatona art epitomizes).
I'm very excited for Debbie because she was just featured in the premiere issue of Real Word Magazine which was released late last month. She's branching out and adding other items to her collection such as magnets, large prints, and a few other things she's creating. Her eye for photography and her heart is truly amazing. I'm so honored that she has asked me to be part of this Garden Art Party venture and hope we'll take it on the road!

Whatever doesn't sell next Saturday will be posted on my Etsy site for sale. I will honor the 10% discount on these items, but you'll only have 2 days to take advantage of the sale, unless I decide to extend it so you never know. :)

Getting Ready for Christmas - Xmas Swag

Today we got our Christmas tree. We decided this year just to get a 3-5 foot tree and put it on a table. Gone are the days of getting 8 foot Christmas trees. Less to decorate, less to clean up and more room for presents for Aidan. LOL.
We put on the lights, but are waiting for our Christmas ornaments to be returned. When my dad moved, he took our ornaments and left the ones from the 60s behind. So we have to wait until Friday to officially decorate.

Since the tree went up, I figured it was time to stop procrastinating on the final project of our C3 workshops. I have one more small item to complete to pass, but the Christmas swag just needed to be put together, we learned how to make these gigantic poppies, hellebores and monkey tail ferns as well as the pears and apples. Lots of glitter in this project. The ferns and filler are preserved greens which is very messy, but gives it a more realistic look and feel. I think it's gorgeous and although I'm nervous about putting it outside, it does look beautiful and makes me feel that it's almost Christmas. I don't think we ever had a wreath or swag on our front door during the holidays. My husband asked if we should get one at the hardware store and I told him, "No, I'll finish my swag and we can use that."So here's how it turned out. It's hard to believe Christmas is only 24 days away... Where did all the time go??? Hope this arrangement helps put you in the Christmas spirit.