Spring Antiques Show at The Park Avenue Armory

This week was the Spring Antiques Show at the beautifully restored Park Avenue Armory. I had the honor to decorate the show with our oversized floor arrangements as well as providing flowers for vendors. My amazing crew managed to artfully install 28 bales of Crabapple, 9 bales of Lilac, 6 bales of Viburnum and three bales of Peonies. Imagine the fragrance as guests entered through a forest of Spring branches finished with masses of Jasmine and Lilac! The challenge of this job came after the opening festivities when the heat from some 60 booths lit with high powered spot lights created a toasty environment for all that splendid material to live in. Daily watering, spritzing and pruning helped keep the arrangements looking fresh for the duration of the show but not without much TLC. Tonight we break it all down and I can take a deep breath. Mission accomplished!

Soaring and Weeping

Confetti of Cherry petals have wilted and gone but the colors that remain on it's branches have a richness all their own. Young rusty growth against the teal green mature leaves and reddish brown bark offer remnant filament of the flower stamens on their black hips a backdrop to dance on like a miniature ballet troupe. Ok, flower dork in da house!
Sometimes I simply have nothing to say and I start rhapsodising about nature in a gag-me kind of way.
This arrangement is a style I particularly gravitate toward for centerpieces. The pedestal on the iron birdbath acts as an elevated platform for both a weepy effect allowing for the composition to simultaneously project upward giving the leading "lady" or flower in question the spot light while cascade over the plate's edge creating graceful arcs of movement and texture. Feeling the "Flower nerd" coming on again strong!

Ok, here's a tip, when working with Japanese Maple cuttings for an event store the cuttings wrapped in wet newspaper in a dark garbage bag, with ends crushed and in water, until hours before the the event especially in the warmer months when the tips will curl and dry before your eyes.

Riverside Park Sunsets

New York is such a hard place to live with so many demands and distractions that one often forgets of it's many sanctuaries. Yesterday I took a stroll along the Riverside Park river's edge as the sun was setting and immediately was swept away by the the way the sunlight sparkled diagonally across the river. This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park retaining the English gardening ideal of the times.
My eye was drawn to the golden light reflecting through the decaying black moorings that look like tombstones and bouncing off mica in giant granite rocks lining the walkways.  Something about water and sunlight has a way of easing mental and physical tension, giving one the ability to breath deeply and gently surrendering to beauty and nature.
Spring's grand show is waning but there's still much to see in terms of blooms. Lilacs and azaleas are front and center and the bells of Solomon Seal are ringing everywhere!

Central Park 4/16/12

Spiraea prunifolia

Amelenchier tree

Bluebells and Young Fern in The Rambles

Silverbell Tree (Halesia Monticola)

Wandering with my camera through the Central Park last week before the heavy rains passed through I was lucky to find blossoming trees which caught my fancy and were unfamiliar to me like the Silverbell Tree and the Amachelier Tree which was at the end of it's blooming cycle with it's rust leaves and tiny wistful Magnolia-like blossoms.  The park's inhabitants were also out and placing themselves in plain sight. I spotted a cardinal in Strawberry fields and the usual suspects through the Rambles and the pond.

Alder Manor

This weekend I took Metro North to Greystone and walked the uphill route to Alder Manor where I am thrilled to be decorating a wedding in August. I've seen photos of this location and have wanted to visit for some time so it was a treat of a walk-through for me. Imagine a couple and their only child living in a 72 room mansion with an organ with pipes at the top of a grand staircase. Walk up to the second floor and enter the pool room(and I'm not talking table, a real deep pool!) with his and hers bathrooms on either end beyond curved doors which continue the oval shape of the room.
The Manor was designed by Carrere and Hastings and shares some similarities to the Frick Mansion in NY which they were also commissioned to build. The only difference is the state of abandonment and decay which the property has fallen to. It only adds to the charm of course and I secretly hope it never gets cleaned up or at least if it does, that the restoration retain the patina of age which it now carries.
Looking forward to adding our embellishments to this setting!

Light and Lens

 

Summer is on it's way and the only thing I like about that are the bright rays of light it brings along.  The light streaming in from my studio windows or the light shimmering through the tree tops offer so many chances for one's imagination to run free, especially with a friendly camera in hand. Obsessed with refractions and shadows and focus right now so I hope you enjoy these plays with light and lens because you may be seeing a lot more here and on Instagram (thedesignerscoop) if you wish to follow the black hole of time which is swallowing every free second I have. Would I rather be a photographer? hmm... nah! I like to choose the subject matter. Having to photograph some predefined subject matter would kill the joy I get from photography, plus I wouldn't have a fridge full of gorgeous flowers to make living sculpture with. I'm quite happy being who I am, doing what I do and having the chance to play every day.

Bruised and Fleshy

This is an unusual palette I keep coming back to and I think it's because it both passionate and vulnerable at the same time.
A fun vintage styled wedding is on the horizon and I'm looking forward to sharing every last detail with you!
in the meantime get yourself outdoors! This Spring is quickly moving into Summer so don't miss it!

Looking Through A Rose Tinted Holiday

I was raised a good catholic child by my Cuban parents and the Irish nun at my primary school made sure that we all observed every facet of the Ascension. Easter Holiday and all the commercial trappings and American traditions never really made much sense to me and what I was being taught in school and at church which was the brutally horrific story of how Jesus Christ had died for our sins in such a barbaric way. So how did this correlate to pastel dyed boiled eggs and marshmallow peeps? Apparently the rabbit was as symbol of fertility because they conceive second litters while still pregnant. That along with the myth that rabbits were hermaphrodites therefore being able to bear offspring without copulating and therefore connected in some equally misinformed way to the Virgin Mary brings the bunny directly in line with the day Christ becomes a ghost and "passes over". Ok, I am taking liberties here but not that far off. In the Jewish tradition Passover marks the exodus of the ancient Israelites who were freed from slavery in Egypt but not before God inflicted ten plagues on them- one being the death of their first born. The Israelites marked their doors and the Lord knew to "Pass over" the first born in these homes.
Ok, so what about the colored eggs coming from a rabbit? The Greeks colored eggs pink as a reference to the blood of Christ and green eggs symbolized the rebirth of Spring. The Protestants were the ones to bring the eggs into the picture as a rebellious act rejecting the Catholic fasting of Lent.
Somehow all these things got thrown together and we ended up looking for eggs in the grass and wearing bonnets.
Now considering all the violence connected with this holiday I always feel a little strange saying "Happy" Easter. I guess it's the one day of the year we're allowed the look through rose tinted glasses. And there you are. Spring flowers to celebrate a rebirth.
Happy Spring folks and enjoy your respective holidays!