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

 



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.

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.

New Jewelry Designs

I've been working on some new jewelry designs. My latest styles are one inch round silver pendants that are covered with a clear acrylic "bubble".  I have to thank a fellow World Wide Pressed Flower Guild member, Lynn Lang, for sharing this technique of using the acrylic bubbles at our recent conference.

This is a miniature design on a light blue background ( I know it looks white.)  I used some small greens, and dyed spirea to get the finished butterfly garden.

Wedding Keepsake

When I received the request to do this wedding keepsake, along with the fresh flowers, I was excited to create a really special piece. I love the materials I had to work with. The brown ribbon, the calla lilies and the roses were rich in color and paired well with the elegant dark brown frame. I included a photo ( blocked for privacy) and the program cover to make a great gift for the wedding couple to enjoy for many happy years to come.

RED ROSE WEDDING BOUQUET

Made from a pressed red rose and evergreen wedding bouquet, the finished result is in an 11x14 inch black frame.

It's So Magical

Created by request for a customer to be similar to my " Fairy Dust" picture, " It's So Magical" represents a fairy in flight, spreading joy and flowers along the way. It is a two layer design made on hand painted silk. It's size is 11x14 inches, and it will go in a white frame. This fairy will find her home on the wall of a young girl's bedroom. I hope she feels the joy in it for many years to come.

Waterfalls

I love waterfalls. It is one of my favorite things to create with pressed flowers. I think it is because there aren't many boundaries when making them. This is a picture of the waterfall class I recently taught at The World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Conference in Manchester, CT.

BUSY As A Bee

I have been so busy gardening, pressing and unpressing flowers, I haven't had much time to post. I think about it often. I am also teaching another online class for the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. This month the subject is fairies.

Monarch In The Meadow

One of my latest pictures, this was created for a class I am teaching online through the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. I am a bit crazy about butterflies, so this was fun to do.

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!

Flowers Under Resin

Recently a coworker asked for a few neclaces for her daughters, to give as Easter gifts. For about a year I have been hooked on making simple flowers necklaces. They are pressed, laminated, then encased in resin. I wear mine all of the time. Of course I have one (or two) in every color.

They are fun to make, and fun to wear!

These are ready to be made into necklaces by adding the bail and cord.

China with the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild

I have been absent from blogging for a great reason. Last month this art I have come to love lead me to China. The basis of the trip was the 2010 World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Conference. While the conference was held in Guangzhou at the South China Agricultural University, I was able to visit the Beijing area and Hong Kong as well.

Accomapnied by friends and fellow World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Members the trip started in Beijing. While there we toured The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and the Imperial Palace. We attended a tea ceremony, which surprisingly had us laughing to the point of tears, watched silk being made, saw jade being carved, and had our names carved in stamps. We shopped. Our mission : to find found great art, art supplies, papers and books, jade jewelry and gifts. Mission Accomplished !
Our long days of walking and walking ended with great meals like Peking duck that actually came with a serial number, and a Traditional Hot Pot feast.


The weather wasn't too cooperative during our visit to the Great Wall, but I managed to climb pretty high.







Steps of the Great Wall

Amazing to see and climb, not to mention a great workout!












Inside The Forbidden City: so much art and history.

From Beijing we flew to Guangzhou for the conference. There was work to be done, and fun to be had.
Judging the competition was difficult with so many great entries. It is however a job I was honored to do.

Teaching at the conference was fun. The students and members, from several different countries, were fun and quick learners.
We made the newpapers every day during the conference, here are some links:

http://news.qq.com/a/20101105/001408.htm

http://news.xkb.com.cn/shouyehuandengpian/2010/1101/99504.html

http://pic.people.com.cn/GB/165652/165654/13110040.html

We laughed, we learned, met old friends and new members. We even played in a chemistry lab.

Picture of mallards from press flowers

On the last day of the conference we had a field trip. One stop was this beautiful street in Guangzhou.

Below: Enjoying our last afternoon in Guangzhou

Final stop: Hong Kong

We visited Hong Kong Island, Victoria's Peak and my most favorite of all, Stanley

Oh, and of course we shopped!

Final Touches

After looking at my sunset picture for a few days, I decided it needed a little more of something, so I added some extra grass, then framed it. Here is the final version of the picture, titled

"Each End A New Beginning"

A reminder, that with each end there is a new beginning.

Flowers On Silk

I am learning silk painting for use as backgrounds for my art. I have made two pieces so far. They were both done using different techniques. I like the bottom one more, as far as backgrounds go. The top picture has more detail and work, as you can see!

Hydrangea, delphinium, cosmos, dogwood, and sweet potato vine are some of the plants used to create this picture on hand painted silk.

On this hand painted silk background I used queen anne's lace, salvia, verbena and geranium
sweet potato vine and cosmos to create the "meadow" and butterfly.

Flowers And Glitter

I am working on some big projects right now, but took a break to make a few cards this week. I was curious to see how the glitter would look on these. I am happy with the results.