Back Again

So I kind of let this blog go for quite a long time. I had been looking for a new platform, then a new website, then I just got busy... and here we are. ( For now)

 Above: " Fine Day For A Swim"  Pressed flowers on canvas. The background is painted, the sea life is all pressed botanical materials.

This version of " The Lion King " was created for the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show. The entire picture was made using fall leaves. It received an Honorable Mention.

How Long ?

Recently I entered two pictures in the Pressed Plants Competition at the Philadelphia Flower Show. I finally got to make an abstract piece I've often thought of doing, as the theme for that particular class allowed us to create a work inspired by a famous artist. So I chose Kadinsky and I made this using all pressed leaves and flowers.

 

The abstract was fun to make.

 

The other picture I entered was a lot more detailed. The class called for a garden to resemble an artist's style of painting. I went with Claude Monet. This picture took much longer than the abstract because of all of the little pieces used to create the "impressionist" look.

 

 

This "Artist's Garden" took home an honorable mention. Again it 100% made with pressed flowers and other botanicals.

 

 

People always ask how long it takes to make "that" , referring to one of my petal painted pictures. I usually answer the amount of time (usually several days or weeks) that it takes to create the piece. When I think about it, I am wrong. Truth is it probably took me at least twice as long. Pressed flowers is a great form of art that is also timely, not only in creating artistic works, but in collecting, preparing, pressing, sorting and organizing sometimes hundreds to thousands of botanicals. It's a process that is redundant at times, yet calming to me. It's my passion. It's what I do. So I don't think much about the time and the process, but the end result, which despite the labors, is the true reward. 



 



Lost In Time And Flowers

Ok, I haven't posted in a really long time. I didn't realize how long until now. In my absence I've been really busy creating many new things. I am always afraid I will run out of new ideas, yet my palette of botanicals always finds a way to inspire me. There's been so many new things I don't know where to start.  One of the most fun projects I've come up with has been real leaf garlands. I am a fan of autumn and  love to use it's beautiful gifts in my art. As a result I started making lots of these:

                  These garlands are made from real fall leaves and are preserved to last. To keep them natural the leaves are hung from jute. Rustic and fun!
Happy Autumn!
Micki

Pressed Flower Art...Will it last ?

If you have ever wondered just how long a pressed flower piece will last, I want to share this with you. I stumbled upon this picture which was bought in 1939 as a wedding gift. While some fading has occurred over 74 years, you can see the picture is still quite beautiful, and many of the flowers still have vibrant color. Thank you to the special lady who shared this and let me take the pictures of her treasured gift.

2013 "Brilliant" Philadelphia Flower Show

From January through March each year almost all of my "free" time is spent preparing entries for the Philadelphia Flower Show. My "free" time is often "sleep" time.

This year the show's title was "Brilliant". It was a tribute to Great Britain. Of most interest to me was the "Pressed Plant" exhibit, where entries from all over the world, including mine were exhibited and hung to compete for "oohs, wows and ahhhs" and of course ribbons. My entries usually take several weeks each to prepare.

My first picture took three weeks longer thank I had planned, as happens with pressed flower art.  Making those botanicals work like paint is sometimes a challenge.( I won an Honorable Mention on this entry. )

That left me much less time than desired to finish two other entries.
With ideas in mind, I first thought to rethink my choices for my "Stonehenge" entry ,but I have always wanted to do a castle, and I couldn't stop myself. I did however replan the structure and intricacy of the planned castle entry. The result, though not what I intended, did come out nice, and did bring in a second place ribbon to my surprise.

With only two nights left to create an entry for the "Royal Wedding" class, I had to completely abandon my visions of a beautiful wedding gown made with the sheerest of flower petals. My need to think and create fast put me on a whimsical track. Certainly not the caliber of a picture I wanted to enter in the show , but with the only other choice being not enetering, I came up with this piece:

This ended up with an Honorable Mention.

 

So my never ending learning continues. I know the end result in art ( and in life) is not always what we plan, but it is what we create when things just don't go as planned. Mistakes, and "things" happen. Only my first picture turned out as I imagined, after struggling too long on the bridge.  The other two were a result of timing.  It's not always a bad thing.

 

- Micki

 



So Little Time, After A Long Time

My lack of blogging time is only a reflection of my creating time. I have lots to share and much catching up to do.
I recently spent some time to make cards for a small craft show I was going to put some things in. I don't focus enough of my time on making cards. There is a reason for that. I always think they will be quick and simple. That's rarely the case. I painted all of the backgrounds used in these cards. I really enjoy preparing my own backgrounds. I feel it makes my cards more original and artistic. Plus I really enjoy making a mess with my paints. It's true!

 A butterfly made from petals flies above a single, but beautiful cosmos flower.

  Just some simple designs on my fern inspired backgrounds.

   Vase from a leaf, filled with larkspur, leaves and ferns.

Holidays

 Ginko Leaf ornaments

 

This was a super busy holiday season in my world of art and craft. I rarely use those words together, as I like to think of what I do as more art than craft. But sometimes I combine the two, as you can in these photos.

 Snowman ornamnet made with white poplar leaves an other pressed flowers.

 Hand stamped silk scarf. The stamp was a real fern.

Zentangle inspired, pen and ink heart with a pressed flower necklace

 

Overall I think I created over one hundred ornaments, two dozen scarves, about sixty necklaces, and many,many other items. Afterall , who needs sleep when the is fun to be had creating?

 

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. Happy 2013!

Micki





 





Handmade For The Holidays

While this isn't exactly related to my art, it is about art, so I thought I would share.

With the holiday season just around the corner, I am happy to say I am about half finished my gift shopping. I made a decision a few months back, while I was staying up late making jewelry and other pressed flower items. I decided I wanted to support other artists by having a  "handmade Christmas". After all, handmade items are truly from the heart. Artists put much time, energy and love into their products. Many handmade items are unique, and sometimes customized. In addition, I have read or heard more than once, people are venturing into craft or art shows and sales after being forced into unemployment by the bad economy. So as I continue down my list I will continue to seek great gifts online at places like Etsy.com, and at local art or craft shows. So far I have found soaps, custom hand painted wine glasses, lots of jewelry, blown glass ornaments, knitted scarves and gloves and so much more. I know I will not have 100% of my gifts handmade, but my goal is 75% and I am nearly there. So I encourage you, before visiting the mall and the big department stores,  go find some pretty, unique, customized, hand made and hand picked from the heart gifts. I have really enjoyed the shopping so far. No lines, no wait, no parking wars and good service...all while supporting other artists.

One of my many wonderful finds: A beautiful ceramic dish.

Creating With Autumn

Though autumn often reminds me that colder days are coming with winter just around the corner, I can't help loving the season for it's cooler sunny days air and explosion of colors.
The sunny days of early fall still host some warm temperatures, while the leaves just begin to change to orange, gold and nearly red.  It is those days, when nature is recreating it's art that have inspired my latest works.

" Fall Exploding"

                                                      Fall Leaves Collage

"Autumn's Art"

 

These are pressed botanical pictures on canvas, which were painted in several layers before the leaves were added.

Green Jewelry

Guess I've been in a "green" mood. New pressed flower necklaces featuring ferns, larkspur and skeleton leaves.

Summertime

     The summer months are continuing to keep me busy. When you are a flower presser ( or squisher  as per my peers) on the east coast, this is prime time for us to be harvesting and stocking our inventory. My flower presses are full, my garden still struggling from the heat. It has provided me plenty though, so no complaints.

     Earlier this month I returned from the 2012 conference for the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. We had a great time in the Finger Lakes region of New York. We even pressed grapes, which seemed so appropriate being in NY wine country. I learned many new things, that you will be seeing in the near future. I taught "Christmas in June", and enjoyed seeing all of the creations.

     Following my return, I jumped into teaching my online class "Totally Unframed Pressed Flowers" which was available to the Guild members. Here are some examples from that class.

    

Of course I have squeezed in time for my etsy shop and some jewelry making.

I also joined the world of facebook pages

https://www.facebook.com/PrettyPressedPetals?ref=hl#!/PrettyPressedPetals

Come check it out!

See You next time!     Micki



   

Lately

The summer is going by so fast. My garden is struggling in the summer heat but I've managed to press a good bit of flowers so far. I have spent hours watering and weeding, pressing and sorting. I've also managed a little time creating. The time behind the scenes of creating pressed flower art is endless.
Lately I've been making lots of jewelry. I'm always looking to make something a little different from the last.

 Hummingbirds design

Red Daisy

Recently I also attended the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild conference in Waterloo NY where I taught "Christmas in June".

I will share more about the conference and my current class in my upcoming blogs. Right now I've got some jewelry that needs to be made.

Awards From Korea

Recently Korea hosted two international pressed flower competitions. Since it was an overseas contest, entries were previewed online via pictures. Entries that were selected then had to be sent to Korea for final judging. For the first round of the competition I submitted three pieces. Two, both jewelry, were chosen for the final round. After several weeks I was excited to hear that both of my entries received awards. My busy life as well as my role in other competitions, frequently prevent me from competing. But it is something I like to do. It's not just about the win. It's the process of creating something new, unique and sometimes very challenging. While these pieces were more fun than challenging they led to my creation of my mini garden jewelry.

The backgrounds were done in pastel then cut to shape. I designed the "gardens" and the little butterflies all from pressed flowers.

Pressed Flowers On Canvas

Pressed Flower "Garden And Butterfly"

This is my newest creation. It's time to start using some of the different supplies I just had to have. This is a 16 x 20 inch canvas with a painted background. I like doing pressed flowers on canvas because sometimes a slight thickness in the flowers or stems creates a light 3D effect. The flowers kind of pop off the canvas, ever so little.

This picture is featured in my etsy shop, which is a slow and growing  process. I started it a couple of years ago, but never really filled the shop. Lately I have been determined to give at least a little of my "not so spare" time to it.

You can visit here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/prettypressedpetals

As I said , it's a slow process. I'm working on better pictures, since I finally got a new camera.

Pressed Flower Art and Artists At the Philadelphia Flower Show

The artistic class I am involved with at the Philadelphia (International) Flower Show is titled "Pressed Plants". It sounds so....blah, yet is vibrant and amazing. I am not tooting my own horn here, but that of the many entries that come from all over the world. For years the Philadelphia Flower Show ( PFS), has been the most prestigious, international pressed flower art competition. Entries are submitted from across the US, Japan, China, Russia, Korea,Taiwan and other countries. The "Pressed Plant" wall as I refer to it, often hosts some of the best pressed flower art and artists. These entries, mostly pictures, are sometimes so detailed that they look like paintings, not pressed plants. Some of the entries take months to finish. Using only pressed plant materials, where coloring/dying is not allowed, often presents many challenges when trying to create depth,shadows, lighting and the likes. I'm not just talking about a few flowers glued to paper in an arrangement . I am talking landscapes, buildings, portraits,oceans, animals and many other themes.


Take a look at some of this years pictures, fully created using only plant materials. I am sure you will agree with my "wows!"

Above: First place winner in the Pressed Plants novice class, calling for a scene that depicts a lei. This was one of my favorites this year.

Above: A wonderful beach and ocean scene using many different shades of hydrangea to create the water, wave and sky. Unfortunately it was unable to be judges as it was stamped by the artists, which is not allowed, so blind judging can occur.

Above: This picture of a volcano took First Place, "Best of Blues".

Above: Another of my favorites, Third Place winner in "Waialua" calling for the colors of the Hawaiian rain forest.

Above: First Place winner in "Wailalua" class.

Above: Honorable Mention was awarded to this rain forest scene.

Above: Second Place winner  for the "Waialua" class, done by Shelly Xie, another member of the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild.

Above: Some of the Youth Class pictures , titled " Hala-Hakiki" ( Pineapple). The Youth Class is fairly new to our competition. I think we started it three years ago, four at the most.

Above: Another rain forest entry     

If you read the title for this blog, it stated artists as well as art. So, onto the next part....

Being a Pressed Flower Artist in our country is not common , but not necessarily uncommon. It is definitely a different art form than most people choose, but none the less, it truly is an art. That being said, when you find people who really get you and what you do, you bond. You teach, share, and sometimes steal flowers together. (Yeah, I said it). Again, these people "get" me. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I belong to a group of Pressed Flower artists."The World Wide Pressed Flower Guild" is an international, online based group from around the world. Many us rarely meet.We hold classes and forums online. However, I am centrally located near a few members, and fortunately the Philadelphia Flower Show brings a few of them to me every year. In addition a few friends and members fly in to perform judging.  This all adds to the excitement of the show for me. Being with my "petal family" is always fun.

Below are pictures from our activities during the first few days of the show.

 World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Members visit at The Philadelphia International Flower Show.