Illustration, Writing, Children's Books, Plantique

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Plantique - July 2020

Glass vessels for summer flowers

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/850721849/elegant-vintage-moulded-glass-shaker-for

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Some wonderful artwork in the form of an EBook by French artist, Herve Denis.

La Sèvre sort de son lit

La Sèvre sort de son lit (huile sur papier 48x36)  

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amazing paintings by Herve Denis at Herve DENIS galerie.

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Plantique - July ‘22

Roses for Roses

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Beautiful roses - why not display them in vintage rose patterned containers?

There were roses everywhere in late '50's- early 60's interiors - curtains, tablecloths,etc. The realm of ceramics was no different.

I have mostly used vintage rose-motif vessels from that era, this month. Some are a bit full-on but then roses are full-on so they probably don't mind.

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And then some non-rose containers to mix it up a bit.

I photographed inside but I have placed the arrangements on a naive style tablecloth to give the flavour of a simple looking table, adorned with flowers that you could use for an outdoors party or barbecue.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/783734888/fun-and-cheerful-vintage-tablecloth-with?

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In the blue teapot, there is a figure-of-eight arrangement going on with the circle of roses on top and the almost spherical shape of the teapot below.

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Whereas with the blue jug, I have echoed the red rose motif with the dark red roses.

With the added in pink roses, the top-heavy approach is emphasised.

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The white ribbed planter with rose-motif is a completely different shape to fill and how to make the stems stand is a consideration.

I placed the jam jar, slightly shorter than the pot, inside to contain water and stems. This provides  a central stability from which the roses can naturally splay out,

hiding the fact that there is a container inside a container.I poured water into the planter on the outside of the glass jar also and poked some more stems in there.

For these arrangements I have kept on a fair bit of the foliage to frame and offset the flower heads ...

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but the tradition I have followed with the tall glass vintage bottle, is to remove most of the leaves to accentuate the tall pale green stem.

The gorgeoous yellow rose bud and a minimum of leaves gracefully flow up from the top of the bottle.

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At the other end of the scale, this diminutive old pale pink, white and silver jug

is happily overwhelmed  by the volume of  matching pale pink roses and the mass of contrasting dark green foliage.

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Plantique - June ‘22

Taking a stand outside

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Potted plants look great when grouped, using a variety of sizes, textures and shapes.

These trivet stands enhance the grouped effect by differentiating height.

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Continuing with the 'stands' theme, in June we're enjoying our outdoor plants and showing them off to their best advantage.

This month I have re-purposed objects that generally live outside or in the shed as well as employing some vintage trivets and wok stands.

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The milk churn is wearing the pot of pinks like a hat and with it's intermediary flat piece of wood, 

reflecting last month's 'drum' stand idea. 

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Old wok stands are great if you can find the right size plant pot to fit.

This grouping also  includes the actual wok.

If you can't find the right sized potted plant, you can again use an intermediary, for example the reflective tray.  

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For a decidedly utilitarian look,

I used the work bench and the step ladder, both made of aluminium.

Their cool, hard lined functionality offsetting the colourful and flamboyant beauty of the pelagoniums, dianthus (pinks) and 'Angel hair' ornamental grass (stipa tenuifolia)

and complementing the warm terracotta cluster of pots with the lively herbs.