It’s been a LONG while since I’ve written…roughly 3 months. I’ve been bummed out about it, but of course I have perfectly reasonable excuses. Mainly, these 12 weeks have been FULL - my very last post marked the start of my first vacation in a year; 12 major events; 3 brand new workshops, and all the usual tumult, highs and lows that come along with. There have been bouts of Covid or other illness, and significant family goings-on for both myself and my staff that has had us all haphazardly off and on our regular schedules. And in between, flowers, flowers, flowers in various forms…
“Cosmos week” in July:
Summer bouquets featuring poems - a new thing we tried thanks to a friend (who wished to remain anonymous):
Some play with leftover foxglove, basketflower, yarrow and garlic scapes:
All throughout this hectic/messy/busy time, I had several tiny jolts of ideas (concepts of a plan?) that felt worth putting down on paper, only to quickly lose them in the never ending cascade of to-do’s. I love writing, and I miss it when I skip it. Worse than that, I berate myself for not getting to it, which is an intergenerational self-criticism pattern I’m working on re-wiring…
Does anyone else notice how hard their mother is on herself? Think about a grandmother who gave herself little to zero credit for intellect or intuition or creativity? Then think, F***. Useless self-beratement is something I battle daily in my own mind. This, I suppose, is one of those tiny jolts…a concept, about how the freedom to create, and confidence, go hand in hand. The flipside is a void, and a narrative or fear you’re no good, have no talent, and why are you even trying to compete with the best of the best of the best who are all in New York City.
This is why vacation is so necessary. For a fourth year in a row I headed back to Acadia National Park, to camp and cook and hike and be in community with friends and family. The breaks really help put your head back on straight and I did come home feeling re-energized.
In August, we had some really fun, large weddings to flower. As usual, my visions were quickly sketched down for designers to interpret… more concepts of a plan. Sorry to keep riffing on DJT’s ridiculous utterance but it’s actually a pretty useful phrase so long as you aren’t using it to describe your intentions for running a country of 300 million…
Translating ideas into forms with whatever nature and farmers conspire to provide is a challenge. I’m continually learning.
We enjoyed sunflowers a LOT in August - through giant loads of subscription flowers; a painting class led by Jessica Dalrymple, an old friend and fellow building neighbor from our previous location; and a floral design workshop featuring sunflowers
August also marked the move-in of Amy Febinger’s business, Bourgeon. So now we are three small floral design businesses in one space - and I think it will be wonderful. I love thinking about the studio as a salon, where we rub off of each other as designers and inspire each other and make each other’s work better.
Workshops have also been fantastic this summer - bringing wonderful people into our space has been as fun and inspiring as I imagined.
Speaking of, we’ll be announcing more workshops soon. The fall and winter seasons are an especially wonderful time to gather and make things.
If you’re itching for a hands-on crafting project, stay tuned for dates for several upcoming wreathing workshops. There will be a dried wreath workshop or two in mid November, just in time for that holiday all about food. And then several evergreen wreath workshops in late November and early December, where I hope the scent of evergreen nearly knocks you over when you step inside the studio.
2020 was the last time I delved deeply into dried wreaths. I loved using dried grasses, herbs, eucalyptus, and of course flowers in my wreaths, and am working on narrowing down our ingredients. I’ll probably demo and just let you play.
For the Christmas holiday, for those who celebrate or like to deck their halls, I’ll offer at least a couple wreath-making workshops, as well as made-to-order wreaths. Like last year, these will featural locally-sourced “tips” or spruce / fir / pine bows, ilex berries, seeds and cones, and likely dried flowers or fruit. We’re beginning to come up with our concepts now…
You’ll be hearing more very soon - thanks as always for reading, and for your support!