Leaves FALL

Leaves are covering the ground as the explosion of color makes way for hard silhouettes of branches preparing us mentally for the winter ahead. This week has been warm and sunny and I savor every minute. Above is one of the last fall arrangements coming from this studio. Winter wonderland weddings are taking over. It's a week filled with crystals and branches. Production for the base materials for many December weddings is filling my time and space. Think Dr Zhivago meets a true life ice storm. More about this soon.

The Big The Bold & The Beautiful

This bouquet was made for the current issue of New York Magazine Weddings. The features editor asked for bouquets made in primary colors, so here is my blue bouquet. Other spectrums will follow.

Delphinium, Monkshood, Passion vine and flowers, grasses, ferns and Scabbiossa pods.

Day For The Spirit

A delivery for a yearly luncheon took me out to the Hamptons Yesterday. I listened to stories about Steve Jobs for hours in traffic there and back and in between decided to drive to some of the local farms. There couldn't have been a brighter clearer day to wander aimlessly through the apple orchards and flower fields! It reminded me of how absolutely starved as a city dweller I am for nature. I can get completely lost in it for hours which I did delaying my visit to a dear friend further down the road in Amagansset.
I finally made it to her place where her perfect husband brought us the most delicious Chai lattes I've ever had. Then she drove me to the Hither Hills Sate Park. We trudged through a sage green smattering of lichen laden pines and made our way up to the top of the dunes. I felt like I was transposed to another part of the world. I imagined being in a desert except the perfect temperature immediately brought me back to an exquisite Montauk fall afternoon. Christine took funny hipstamatic portraits of us with her iphone as her ridiculously low maintenance baby napped in the Byorn sack and we mused on the patterns of the shadows cast by the grasses and exact colors of specific patches of green.
As I drove back into the hard wired city I was filled with gratitude for the healing beauty of nature and how much love it filled with me with. That may very well be why I make a living of working with it's perfect and imperfect products.

Another thing that really struck a chord in me as I drove back were these words,

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."..........................................................Steve Jobs

RIP

Pick Me Upper

A blogger can't afford to be dull or bored or any of the darker things that one naturally experiences in the ebb and flow of life. Truth be told I find myself completely unmotivated this week. It must be related to my absence at the gym. I find that my desire to make anything is dramatically increased by a good sweat. It's amazing how that works, but I miss a few days and nothing stirs me.

These poor neglected beauties were scavenged from the fridge at the studio today for a little pick me up-visual candy.

When asked this week by an ex who just became a father, "Are you happy?"
I swallowed my complaints and said, "I'm happy to be alive."
JEEZE, I could have spared him the passive drama and just said, "Oh Sure."
There's really nothing serious for me to complain about except my presently self-indulgent ennui and about 800 calories in the Pistachio Gelato which I now need to work off at my hateful spin class!
I spin cause I'm not thin, don't hold it against me.

Tree of Heaven

There's an invasive tree growing everywhere and having lovely giant apple green pods that turn fleshy pink. It's called the Tree of Heaven or Ghetto Palm or Stink Tree. It was the tree that Betty Smith wrote about in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And yes, it certainly does! All over Brooklyn!
Apparently it was brought over from China when Chinoiserie was all the rage. It's overly zealous ambitions to spread quickly made it unpopular as well as it's noxious odor which I thankfully have yet to experience- perhaps the trees I have encountered are all female( the male species emits a foul smell to attract insects for pollination). Needless to say the tree gets a formidably bad rap and deserves it but here the pods have been mixed with apple branches, dusty miller and garden roses in the company of other citrus lime/yellow parings. It's a nice cool summer mix calling to mind lemonade and lemon ices but it was the rain that ultimately made me happier today.

Crisp, Classic and Natural

Every client, event and locale require appropriate treatments for table top flowers. Approached by one of our blue-chip clients to design a summer event in Newport R.I., I immediately reached for the silver julep cups which are classic, timeless and work in a pinch when seeking vessels for events that require less frills and still aim to impress. Pictured above is a trio of various cup sizes filled with monochromatic crispy white summer flowers. The smallest cup is filled with grasses and wild flowers and the two larger ones alternately display solid and generous arrangements of peonies with viburnum and lisianthus arranged in a loose style which retain the classic mushroom shape and staggering the stems at different heights for more of a naturalistic aspect.

Coral Compote

I've been collecting these dolphin compote dishes with the hope of using them at the right event. They are the perfect height and size for a pedestal vessel and imbue the table with nostalgia and romanticism.

Sea, Sand & Stars

I spoke to my mom early on Mother's Day. Her spirits were high as she and my dad were in a rush because they had a day ahead of celebrating her and the other mother's in my family. She was most excited to be going to the beach and I was happy that the day ahead was filled with family , sun and her favorite thing which was to watch my brother's dog go nuts in the sand and water! After talking to her I went to the studio reading a Constance Spry book. I felt inspired to make something with both her spirit and related to my Mother's Day. This is was my long distance gift to Mom with love. I hope she had a very happy day!