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Welcoming Inspiration
by April Guilbault
“It” has always been about art and creativity for me. Drawing, painting, creating beautiful rooms for my dollhouse when I was a 10 year old. I was the kid in class who was “the artist”. It is a clear memory I have of designing calendar pages to hang on my bedroom door every month, each adorned with specific themes such as pumpkins for October, flowers and birthday greeting for May (my birthday), beach umbrellas for a sunny, summer month. I took careful time measuring out the date squares and marking special days and, I guess, honoring the seasons.
During those early years, I also remember going to a lot of museums of all kinds-art, historical, science, you name it. Our family was a family that loved museums. I enjoyed them quite a bit, but remember a time, probably when I was a know-it-all teen, that I became exasperated by the idea of going to any art museum. I believe my quote then was “Why would I want to see what other people are doing? I want to do what I want to do!”. Looking back on that attitude makes me shudder, although I can understand why I said it.
Fast forward (really fast) to the current situation. As an illustrator and gardener, I have developed a love, actually a full-fledged hunger and excitement, for visiting gardens. Living, natural museums, if you will. These visits often involve dragging my family along with me, although, if you ask them, they will say that they have enjoyed where we have gone and what we have seen. If there is a garden in a destination when we travel, off we go! They bear with me and for that I am deliriously grateful. The garden that we currently tend in our own half-acre yard is now officially twenty-five years old. A quarter of a century! Time sure does fly when you are plotting, planting, and replanting. There has been so much learning along the way, such an evolution of the space over these decades since that first year when we built the first of several raised beds, hoping for the best. Every year I think I get a little closer to understanding gardening but then I quickly realize I still have so much to learn. That’s the time when I open up my garden journal, scribble my recaps of the season and the dreams for the next.
In the last handful of years, we have had the luck to explore states where our daughters have attended college and as luck would have it, their schools are both (relatively) in the Philadelphia area, Garden Capital of the U.S. *cue excitement* Unlike the anti-art museum sentiment of my younger days (gulp), when I visit either a garden or a museum now, I love to see what I can learn from it. How did they arrange the beds? What sculptures did they use as accents? Being an artist and someone who loves color, the unique tones and hues that gardeners and artists combine are always of interest to me. Soaking up these visuals, keeping mental and journalized notes of all these observations is like a class unto itself. Then, the idea of translating an idea that has inspired me is a fabulous challenge. It serves as motivation, a way to foster my own creativity, in addition to being a wonderful reminder of a place once discovered and loved.
About five years ago, I discovered a garden that was very close to my daughter’s college campus and it turned out to be such a gem that I have visited it many times since, even going there after she graduated. Scattered in various areas of this winding, stellar property are very large planting containers filled with water, and topped with floating flowers and leaves. The first time I saw one of these I was captivated at what a simple, effective, and artistic way to showcase blooms from the garden while still being a part of the garden. A marker of sorts, a preview of things to see, a floral map of what’s in bloom. Brilliant! Well, you can bet that the next season, I looked for the perfect vessel and have been creating these Bloom Scapes ever since. Almost weekly during the growing season, spanning early Spring with the first blooms of amethyst columbine, muted hellebores, and sweet-faced violets to the jewel-colored late fall offerings of maroon Japanese maple leaves, proud-standing dahlias, golden marigolds and calendula and sprigs of lush, mauve Sedum, there is something beautiful floating in that planter.
Creating this flowerscape is a way to slow down and enjoy what is blooming in our own yard in a whole new way, really taking time to take in the color and forms of each specimen. Do I create in analogous or complimentary shades? Should I use leaves or flowers or a bit of both? It’s a floating, botanical mandala of sorts, but one that is fluid and moves with the wind and the water and is ever-changing, by the hour, by the day…an out-of-the-vase way to be imaginative, pause and observe, while creating something inherently personal to your own yard.
Tips
-Enjoy searching for the perfect vessel for your floating Bloom Scape-as long as it holds water, it will work! Will it go on a patio and compliment outdoor furniture? Will it be standing alone at the start of a path? Will it be nestled in a garden bed? The answers will lead to a style and size that works for your space. However, a suggested size would be at least 14” across so that your blooms have room to float and also accommodate various size blooms.
-As you pick the flowers and leaves from your garden, don’t rush. Take time to notice what is currently in bloom and simply enjoy the moment wandering and harvesting. This act of slowing down and noticing is a meditation unto itself. Like me, you may find yourself looking forward to this on a weekly basis. What new thing will I see and what can I create?
-Think of the surface of the water as a canvas and the flowers and leaves as your paint. Trim stems before you place them on the water’s surface and have fun composing your “painting”!
-In addition to using this floating arrangement as a way to highlight what is currently in bloom, you could also experiment with different color combinations, various textures of foliage and a smattering of sizes to add interest to your composition.
-And yes, the wind will move your creation-once made, it will not be the same at any point in the day. Look at this as a friendly, floral way to embrace change and also to enjoy “the moment”.