Hydrangea Decor

Next to roses, hydrangeas are my favorite flower. I love hydrangeas! I am in love with the huge blossoms that stay on the flower until you cut them off. They look just as beautiful in a fresh bouquet as in a dried arrangement. I like the "looseness" of the petals, the huge leaves, and the colors of the blossoms, fresh or dried.  Throughout my house, one can find hydrangeas crafted in stained glass, dried hydrangeas surrounding a mirror, hydrangea print coverlets, hydrangeas fashioned in tapestry, and paintings of hydrangeas. I even used hydranges in my wedding bouquet and as decoration on the wedding cake. That is how much this flower!

Hydrangeas are often thought of as a truly Victorian flower. In the large manor houses of England, it was easy to fill huge vases with their beautiful blossoms since hydrangeas grow to be as big as a salad plate! That may be why in the language of flowers they are known as "A boaster".

Here at Rosecote hydrangeas are a little harder to grow. Though I may not have a hydrangea tree, I purchase a hydrangea bush every season, and when it starts blooming, there is much celebration, and should I say, even a boastful attitude!

You may also be in love with this flower. As a decorative artist you may have tried to paint your own interpretation of its masses of petals. Whether painted suggestively and loose, or with photo-realism, their old-fashioned loveliness make hydrangeas utterly desirable.

Decorating for SPRING!

The first day of spring in the Colorado Rockies brought as much as 2 feet of snow in some places, but I persevered and did some decorating.

This is a vignette that I created on my bedroom dresser using a piece I designed with a pink hydrangea as a focal point and arranging a few of my perfume bottles along with it. My bedspread print is muted pink hydrangeas with roses on an ivory background.  The vignette compliments the bedspread colors while repeating the design elements.

When creating vignettes it is good to consider using different textures such as shiny surfaces along with dull.  Note the tapestry potpourri pouch next to the lamp.  It makes a nice statement with the glass. Varying heights and widths of elements within the vignette also add interest.

More decorating ideas to follow.  Hydranges were my inspiration!  Find some one thing or maybe a color and move out the winter decor for a new Spring look.

I Love Hydrangeas

Soon I will buy my annual hydrangea bush for the yard.  I don't seem to have much luck growing them here in Northern Colorado from one year to the next.  Since growing them is a challange for me, I can paint them from pictures I have taken, arrangements, or use artificial hydrangeas as my model.  I also like to browse through a book I purchased several years ago.  It is titled, Hydrangeas, by Darla Price Bowman.  There are photos of hydrangeas in every setting and a variety of species.  The photography is well done.  The text offers hydrangea legends and lore, "explores the mysteries of hyrangeas' color", and gives details on how to dry hydrangeas for bouquets.

You may find this book and others to be your inspiration for your next hydrangea painting.  I am in a "hydrangea frame of mind" and there is a painting taking shape!  I am getting ready to decorate for spring....7 more days!

A Trail of Roses

Finally!  This one I am keeping.  I have painted this Mary Jo Leisure design at least 3 times, and each time I have given it away, but this one goes on my sofa table.  It is a stand-alone painting on wood, trimmed with gold leaf, which has a receptacle attached on the back side in which I can arrange some greenery or some filler flowers.  I am getting ready to decorate for Spring!  Countdown.....11 days! 

Roses Come in all Varieties

I have been playing this evening...digital ribbon roses, leaves and ribbon.  What fun!

'Painting' using my computer has really been an exciting way to create.  New ideas are just bubbling in my head.  I either need more time or a clone! 

Where is Spring?

Spring Countdown.....16 days.  If only Colorado weather would follow the calendar.  March and April are typically our snowiest months, so I am not deluding myself.  But "Hope SPRINGS Eternal"!  Today, it is supposed to get up to 58 degrees.  Yay!  Maybe that 5 foot deep bank of snow on the North side of the house will be somewhat reduced in size.  Whoops, extended forecast says........snow tonight, and tomorrow.

Since it looks like my rose bushes are to remain covered with snow, I am getting out my David Austin's English Roses, Glorious New Roses for American Gardens.  I have had this book for many years, and it continues to inspire me.  Every page is a color plate with cascades of roses, bouquets of roses, 'botanical' photos of single roses, rose gardens, and rose illustrations.  It is a book that is good for the soul of a rose lover.