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. 



 



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

 



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.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Right now mine grows tall and full of weeds, lots and lots of them. Generally speaking though my garden grows only those plants which can be pressed and used in my art, and a few edibles. I am not ashamed to admit I plan my entire garden based on a list of my favorite flowers to press and create with. Yes, that means I spend days cleaning, preparing and planting, and many more hours maintaining my garden, just so I can pick most of what grows there and press it. The upside to that, is after the flowers are pressed I can enjoy them much longer than just a few days in the garden.





This year I am off to a late start, as the spring weather hasn't been the best. This past weekend I was able to really get in the garden and start clearing the weeds and prepping it for the pretty pressable that will soon grow there!





In the meantime , my perennials and bulbs are keeping me inspired. My Irises are blooming as well as some Forget-Me -Not, Columbine, Lily Of The Valley and just today my Poppies started opening.

This is my first year with these irises, I dug them up from a friend's house last year. They are beautiful. Thanks Phyllis!

These are my favorite columbines. They press great!

This pretty pink flower bloomed on a gray rainy day!

I am planning all kinds of things for these blooming flowers. I 'm sure you will recognize them in later art projects!

More garden visitors

Just when I think it's time to start cutting and pulling the plants and flowers from the garden, I found more visitors and residents this week. Guess I can wait a few more days to get ready for winter.

There were two of these monarch butterflies on the bush, enjoying all of the new blooms


The swallowtail caterpillars continue to grow in masses .
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