For the last two weeks I've challenged myself to sketch every night before bed. Part of this challenge is forcing myself rebuild the artistic handwriting I've lost in hopes of getting back into painting, but the other part of it is stress relief. I am never more at peace than I am with art supplies in my hands.

I've tasked myself with drawing bouquets of flowers I find inspiring online (I know- more flowers) and it's been a wonderful escape. I find my mind drifting to old memories, children's books, and my favorite flower scenes in movies. There's a line in the movie Bed of Roses that lives in a special place in my heart. Christian Slater's character is a florist and he shares why he loves delivering flowers to strangers:

"I like to see peoples faces, when they are just falling in love, or making up from a fight, or even if they are just grieving. There's something beautiful about a persons face at that moment, and yours was incredible...confused..shocked."

I think that's why I'm so unexplainably drawn to flowers, because I hope that one day my hands will be able to recreate the raw beauty of a freshly delivered bouquet, and draw out that same beautiful moment on someone's face. - b.

I love big, billowing bouquets of flowers - the wilder, stranger, and more haphazard the better. As a little girl I'd gather tiny buds and flowering weeds in small handfuls for my mother, gleefully showing off my creation as I returned home. Even now you can find me foraging for blooms on Saturday afternoons, filling a growing array of vases with my discoveries. In recent years I've tried to squelch this love, and hide it away. The reasons are vague, but it was a combination of feminist leanings, the ridiculous cost of flower shops, and guilt of killing a living thing. I've come to the conclusion however, that despite my internal objections, I love flowers arranging and I want to learn more about this amazing craft.

I'd love to attend a workshop in my area, something like this perhaps, but I'm going to try and take it slow. I've just begun my research, but I'm amazed by the resources online (surprise, surprise). I feel like I've already picked up a few new tips on best practices for flower arranging. Here are a few of my favorite:

+ Working in season is not only better for the environment, but you'll also get the biggest, and most beautiful blooms that way

+ There are two ways to go about starting an arrangement; one being to start with the greenery, the other to start with the biggest blooms

+ There are a lot of flower names out there, so you may want to get a flower encyclopedia and start memorizing

+ A good arrangement is as much about the vase as it is the flowers

+ Learn the basics of composition before you venture out with color

+ Rules are made to be broken so you can ignore the rest

And...in case you get a hankering to learn a little about flower arranging yourself here are a few beginner resources I've been reading through:

+ You can never go wrong with Martha Stewart, she's my baseline for most things

+ A lovely tutorial on transforming market flowers from House of Earnest

+  Five oddly insightful flower arranging tips from Lauren Conrad

+ Another wonderful go-to resource is always Real Simple

+ This post seems a little dated, but the content is so good. Their illustrations are very helpful when thinking through an arrangement

+ And just for fun, I'm in love with the Pageant of the Masters series on the House That Lars Built

I'm itching to get started. Time to find a field and start picking. - b.

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all images courtesy of Rijksmuseum 

Some images are kindred spirits, they relate and respond to one another in a way similar to how body language communicates between two people. It’s chemical, mineral, visual. It’s couplings. - b.

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See these images + more on my Pinterest page: