When you just want to go there, and by "there" I mean Italy, France, or any other amazingly beautiful European country, sometimes a mere flower arrangement can do the trick (however fleeting the moment may be!).
For a commercial client today I drew on my love for the mediterranean lifestyle and simply used sunflowers and olive branches. The sunflowers were grown locally at Gilbert Farms in Cartersville, Ga. The wholesaler has buckets and buckets of these symbols of summer, and it feels good knowing they came from fifty miles away. The resulting arrangement (below):
And now a close-up shows the tiny olives:
Sunflower arrangements always remind me of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh's series of paintings created during his time in Arles, France, in 1888.
Below is one titled "Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers". There are several still life sunflower paintings attributed to Van Gogh. This one is particularly appealing because the blue background resonates well with the flowers.
One of my favorite things about sunflowers is the curious way in which they grow directionally according to the sun. In the bud stage they exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. Sunflowers in their blooming stage lose their heliotropic capacity and typically become "frozen" in an eastern-facing position.
Sunflowers are my absolute favorite! Just had to carry them on the big day! Love your pics as always xoxo :)
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