Over the weekend we decided to head into Pittsburgh for dinner and do a little shopping. One of the places we stopped at was Whole Foods to pick up some flowers. It’s such a treat to stop there or Trader Joe’s because they have the best variety of flowers to choose from! If you recall from my spring-inspired tray decor post, I had mentioned that I picked up the ‘Color Me Floral’ book by Kiana Underwood, floral artist of Tulipina. This book is an incredible guide where Kiana shares her techniques, the primary tools she uses, and showcases her stunning monochromatic floral arrangements she designed for every season – they are simply works of art. I decided with all the flowers I bought, I might as well test my creative side and see if I can attempt to create an arrangement that can look anywhere close to the beautiful one’s shown in the pages of the book.
I’ve always been inspired by Kiana’s signature asymmetric floral designs. All of her arrangements have an incredible movement to them, appearing more natural and not structured. Since we are in the spring season, I picked my favorite color palette to work with…pink and white. Some of the flowers I selected were white ranunculus, light pink roses, white stock flowers, white tulips and two other types of flowers – I forgot to jot the name of them. Using the same flowers, I was able to create two arrangements that are designed differently but still creating that free-flowing shape.
One of the tools Kiana mentions in her book is why she uses a floral pin frog to secure her flowers and foliage inside her vessels. Ever since I started antiquing a few years back, it was then when I first saw a glass frog. From then, I started collecting different sizes. For the vessel, I chose to use my vintage white pedestal foot bowl.
Kiana has three focal areas when designing her arrangments – up top, in the middle, and off-center at the bottom hanging and spilling out of the vase. I began my arrangement with this in mind. There are two arrangements in the book (pages 165 and 219) that I used as a guide to create my form.
Floral Arrangement #1.
When making this first arrangement, I concentrated on using the more heavy structured flowers first, secondly, I added larger blooms (like the roses), then I would add the delicate flowers – arching stems like the ranunculus and tulips – they shape the movement of the arrangement. Because of their free form, I would place them in the direction that seemed more natural. I ended my arrangement by adding some filler to close up any open spaces. The goal was to create movement and dimension – how do you think I did on my first try?
Floral Arrangement #2.
For this second arrangement, I wanted to create one that was smaller in scale, yet still had a natural movement to it, as you would see growing from a garden. Typically, when I place a vase filled with flowers on the ottoman tray, it’s normally a bunch of roses or at the most, I would mix two different types of flowers. I’m looking forward to practicing how I can creatively make the arrangement less structured.
With a few left over flowers, I made this smaller arrangement for our side table. Nothing spectacular, I know – but I love seeing arrangements scattered about in our living space.
It was so calming and therapeutic when making these two floral arrangements. The sunshine was coming through the windows, I had the music playing in the background and I just let the exquisite arrangements from the Color Me Floral book inspire my own creation. I’m looking forward to making other arrangements and playing around with foliage and fruit branches!
While my arrangements are nowhere near the amazingly, bespoke creations as the ones Kiana designs, I have no problem trying again and again – LOL!
For a closer look at the two arrangements I made, keep your eye on my instagram feed for video snippets I will be posting today!
-Photos by Rose Angel Lopez
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