Changing the world one flower arrangement at a time
I’m on a mission to promote the interaction and love of the natural world through the medium of flowers. Working with flowers can be a cathartic act to heal and transform your mood, while telling your story of time and place.
Flowers are beautiful and magnetic. The variety of color, size, scent, texture, and diversity are remarkable. They also mark a precious and profound moment in the lifecycle of a plant. They are the quintessence of transmutation; an sensational explosion in a nonlinear world. Though both are fascinating, the latter is what intrigues me most and where the journey begins.
They have charisma, a charge, a gravitas and I feel it in their presence. And when one interacts or works with them something physiologically shifts. It’s as if the mind and body speak completely different languages until the moment they unite over a shared experience.
In my last post, I wrote how it’s in your nature to connect, to play, and to relish tactile experiences. Yet, over time personal narratives overwhelm and ensure that the role of observer is maintained. As a result, there is a tendency to separate oneself rather than put oneself in the way of beauty.
We can buy the flowers, we can look at flowers, but if the internal dialogue is something like, I’d love to get some flowers but I just can’t or that’s a luxury I’m not willing to buy or let someone else do that.
These narratives are worth blowing up. The best thing about flowers is not only having them around, but handling them. It feels really good. Handling them can be transformative, personally satisfying, and able to draw you to the present moment.
I’m a big proponent of dissolving the role of observer into participant. To a large extent flowers are experienced as something visually beautiful. But what if you were able to touch, feel, smell them, get to understand how they behaved? Or even understood how and where they grew? A familiarity with and awareness of their nature would balloon. This is what the practice offers.
Flowers have personality, texture, nuances, and characteristics that reveal themselves only when you begin working with them. Pretty cool. The same can be said for anyone who knows their craft and medium well.
Therefore in order to play you have to go out into the field, so to speak. And while you’re out there, practice and apply these four tips – two for the mind and two for the body.
Be playful and curious. When you can flow in these states, there’s freedom. Restraints are lifted. And you may be pleasantly surprised by what unfolds. If these are dull, or dare I say dead, because more attention is placed on media distraction or convenience, just laugh, breathe, and for once let yourself be slow and observe your surroundings with all your senses.
Layer elements and apply color harmony. From a design and artistic perspective layering your blossoms within an arrangement means they sit on different planes. Meaning you’re not going to cut all the stems at the same length. The blossoms will be in a straight horizontal line and it will look odd. Great for hair, not for flowers. Layering provides movement, dynamism, and spaciousness.
Finally blend colors that have an affinity with one another. For example warm colors and tones together. Cool colors and tones together. Color combining is subtle yet powerful and really can make an arrangement sing. Trust your eyes and how the colors feel, it will get stronger the more you play.