Practice Practice Practice

Practice is a word which strikes fear into budding musicians, discouraged students, intimidated would be yoga practitioners. What is everyone afraid of? BOREDOM? FAILURE? or perhaps the possibility that practice won't improve results.

As a musician and now as a floral designer, I've grown to LOVE practicing.

Why? because when I practice the piano, I really do see RESULTS! With slow, accurate practicing...I can play more complex pieces than I ever could before, and sometimes, even after years of ignoring a piece, my practice still results in a near perfect execution of the hard passages...sadly, the things I didn't practice as faithfully cause the piece to be a work in progress again! But alas, that just requires.......more practice.

Today was my day for practicing with flowers. 

Each summer around this time in August local flowers are available in "hampers" that are selected by the wholesaler from local farms. One never knows WHAT will come in those hampers....no color or flower requests allowed.

Here's what arrived on Thursday morning, along with two types of dahlias I knew would be in season.

My general color palette is darker, more muted, with an occasional bright spot. Notice, too, there are NO greens, another thing I love to use.

So I got to work experimenting. So many spiky shapes and those weird brain like flowers, cockscomb (celosia), in several unusual colors and sizes.

Also this milky stemmed tropical milkweed (asclepias curassavica)

My mind and my eyes were popping! 

This flower "practice" is freeing because I do not have a predictable result in mind and no one is asking for anything in particular from me or from the flowers.

Here are a few of the creations that developed out of my practice session.

What are YOU practicing these days? Hoping you are getting inspired to learn, grow, improve and most of all ENJOY!

Work and Inspiration go hand in hand

May and June are always full of wedding work, and this year I enjoyed collaborating with a fellow designer. We worked HARD, and enjoyed the results and the happy families we served. 

It is satisfying, but nerve racking at times....will the flowers arrive in good shape, will those peonies EVER open up, will they open up too soon, or will they actually wilt just moments after I drop them off at the venue????

Once again, the joy of seeing those flowers and arrangements in full glory, with photos taken by talented artists, who see the details through their camera lense, reminds me that the work is WELL worth the effort. I get re-inspired every time I see the results of all that planning, cutting and conditioning! 

The photos are all compliments of Anderson Shore Photography. Thanks for the wonderful work! And to the sweet couple who's day we helped celebrate, we wish you every happiness!

Care and Feeding

Here on the east coast the Spring weather is still eluding us. Spring came in with a Northeaster, dropping snowflakes the size of cornflakes on the Virginia mountains, and giving the Boston school children another day off to play.

Spring snows are the Hipsters of weather...ironic, n'est pas? At some level they are delightfully surprising. Don't mind my grumbling as I don, once again, coat, hat and wooly scarf to head over for morning coffee...it's March in the mid Atlantic; the now and not yet for meteorologists. Never fear weary one, SPRING will come with no turning back.

Perhaps my fig "tree", the tiny stick of a thing from last year, presents a good metaphor for this time. You see, though it looks lean, it is ALIVE though there's not much but hope to it right now. It's a reminder that a great flurry of activity and growth is coming...it's just around the corner.

But how to manage the emotions of now and not yet, of weariness over the cold, of distant hope still unfulfilled? That famous line of Elisabeth Elliot's comes to mind....DO the next thing! 

Get busy doing some care and feeding, some prepping, some clearing out and some lining up, for assessing and figuring out how to do the next thing well. 

Perhaps that's why Spring cleaning once was a thing everyone did... (it probably still should be, at least at my house). It's time to stop hoping and start DOING.

Taking care to create good personal spaces is part of my work, my doing for this week. With an entirely new area on my rooftop deck to turn into a haven of quiet rest, my mind is clicking with ideas. I spent some time daydreaming about textures, colors and the moods they evoke. 

What a luxury to actually have a space to work in, to create in. People seem determined to do this no matter how small the space. I look forward to sharing it as a place where others feel cared for, listened to, encouraged. A place for quiet reading, or for a pleasant glass of wine on a balmy evening. It's a tiny oasis above the busy streets and train tracks below. Though now it is a jumble of stacked seats, pushed back to the wall to keep things from blowing away, soon it will be my favorite spot.

But so much for dreaming!! The other MUST DO part of my "doing" today is to finally start the plans for the Spring Workshop season, a chance to give eager creators some new "toys" to play with, and some new friends to enjoy. This winter couch potato is finally getting back to work! I hope you'll be part of the fun!

So enjoy the chill before the frenzy of spring and get some care and feeding done at your house!

See you soon in the warm sunshine!

A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven

I don't know what other floral designers are doing in January, but I seem to have a rhythm at this time of year....brides getting in touch to book their weddings, quiet evenings spent hunkered down with a book or some knitting (thank you brilliant BLIZZARD).

But inevitably, I start to long for FRESHNESS in the idea category, and the commanding desire to clean "house" overtakes me! Not the actual one of course, though I am sure someone really does like doing that! but rather the house of my mind. 

First, the old year must be put to rest, and the bookkeeping wrapped up. Though it can be a bit of a puzzle, it still gives me a great sense of accomplishment when it is all tidied up. Now 2015 can be put firmly behind me and I can take a deep dive into the world of flowers, and FAST!! 

Creating designs for weddings and events has begun, exploring new options for color and form, planning of workshops for the Spring season has started (stay tuned and be in touch if you are interested in attending or hosting one), and just a little bit of business development. 

It's all quite challenging, stretching, AND enjoyable!

Here's a for instance:

Next week, I'll be attending (and supplying the flowers for) an event in DC with a Wedding website called Borrowed & Blue--photos to come. borrowedandblue

I'm a little apprehensive to create for a jury of my peers, but hope to meet and learn from new friends. Every event is a chance to say yes, that's it! as well as a clear, NO!!! don't EVER do that again!

But, as can't be avoided in this life, some of our work as floral designers is done for the grief stricken, and sadly, I will be preparing flowers for a memorial service for a 22 year old young man who has, as they used to say in the olden days, "fallen asleep" after a long bout with cancer. Dona Nobis Pacem, et Lux perpetua luceat eis!

His mother shared that he was a sensitive young man, and together she and her son planned and planted a home perennial garden. I hope to arrange flowers that will remind her of that time. 

It is a solemn honor to participate in this passage, sharing beauty, to aide in remembering and consoling. Though pain filled, death reminds us to live life with a full and loving heart while we may!

Here's hoping your 2016 has begun with a sense of clear and hopeful passages ahead. Well wishes to all who will wed this year, as well as those who will weep. 

 

The wise King Solomon said it best: 

I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.