Well, It's Not Quite What I Wanted...

BUT, that's okay, because I am still proud of myself! Alas, my garden club project is finished and over with. They put me in the Masters Class this year (which is laughable in itself - my past blue ribbon was not for flower arranging, but a craft! I am out of my element in the arranging department! ... but apparently they put the Best of Show winners from the last 4 years in this division, so there were four of us) and to be blunt, I got last place. (***wahhhh! just kidding!) Well, out of four, I got fourth. Honorable Mention...which you know at first I was holding back tears to be brutally honest (because it took me about 22 hours total to do this arrangement) but by that night I was totally okay with it. I knew what kind of arrangement the judges like, and I knew they didn't like anything modern or pave, which was mine completely. So I stuck to my guns and did MY artistic interpretation and am totally happy with it and proud of myself. I think maybe it was a little avant-garde and neo-traditional, and hey- that's who I am. But let me say there were some incredible and gorgeous arrangements there, one of my favourite ones was very small and all lavender and it was just breathtaking! It's somewhat stressful and EVERYONE spends a lot of time in planning and thinking theirs through...(Okay, enough of the Stuart Smalley inspirational talk: "i'm good enough, i'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!")

So as I said before, The theme this year was French Artists and I was given Nicolas Poussin.

The Shepherds of Arcadia II

I chose the painting above, which is Poussin's most famous painting.I had to make an explanation card to what style this artist was and what my interpretation of his painting was. I won't bore you with the details, BUT if you are a fan of art history OR the DaVinci Code, you might want to click on the image below to read. It's really very interesting.

click to enlarge

I knew my arrangement was going on a dining table in a VERY neo-classical room. (yea!) After taking measurements of the table and pictures for inspiration, I remembered I had this "tub" which I found at a Consignment Store about 5 months ago for $60. Perfect. Now I have my container:

First I went to Glass House, a glass company in the design district here in Dallas. Of course this was the day before and I waltz in there right before closing time and literally BEG them to etch a design in two pieces of antiqued mirror. And you know what? They did it for me. How's that for customer service!! I drew what I wanted right there on the spot (NP: Nicolas Poussin's initials with a laurel wreath around it. Read my explanation card above if you are interested in the meaning of it.) 

I saw this example of etched mirror in their showroom and that is exactly how I wanted his initials done in the 8x8-inch mirror I was going to have. They said I could pick it up in less than 24 hours. And I didn't even have to do that. They brought it to me. Wow!

Then I went to a Wholesale Floral Supply to buy all my flowers, which were going to be a lot to fill this up.

While there, I also purchased floral foam, which I put in the sink 24 hours before to as to make sure it soaked up ALL the water it could.

Now, where I was REALLY lucky, and in my opinion what made my arrangement, is that my dear friend Brant Laird from Consignment Heaven in Dallas let me borrow his antique bronze Candelabras from his own personal collection, which are gorgeous and very neoclassical. He has the most refined taste, and he was a great person to bounce ideas off of. 

I was nervous about using these gorgeous pieces, so I triple bagged them to make sure NO moisture would get near them.

Now I could put the floral foam in!

I went to Michael's Craft Store earlier in the day and bought a wooden dowel and some styrofoam. I made a square and secured it with the dowel in the middle of the tub. This is where I would put my mirror onto. I built up the floral foam a little too so it would have some height.

Time for the flowers! You should of seen my kitchen. It seriously looked like a tornado came through...there was leaves and branches and junk everywhere. It took me about 6 hours to place all the flowers in, and about 4 hours prep before that to remove all the leaves, thorns, cut, trim, etc....

Now I am not a carnation lover, even though it is my "birth flower" but I bought a few in this bright royal purple, since I was using only jewel tone flowers, and thought it would make great filler in between the other amethyst coloured blooms. A trick: hold the carnation bloom in one hand firmly and take your other hand and rub across the top with decent pressure. It expands the bloom to three times it's size! And once I tucked these deep in the back and recesses of the arrangement, they looked great. I even had enough left over to make little gifts for my sons.

 

And speaking of carnations, would you believe this "moss" is actually in the carnation family? I used this around my monogrammed mirror. I just stuck it in the styrafoam, no water needed.

So now, because my painting has a secret code similar to the DaVinici Code (Called the Poussin Code: google it!), I decided to put a secret code into my arrangement. Yes, I know. I'm crazy. It took me 3 hours at my desk to come up with it. But I finally did, shown below:

I think this went over everyone's head. A little over-zealous maybe, but I was an Art History minor in college, so yes I possibly went overboard. 

So here's my finished product! 

Yea, I'm glad that's over. 

The mirror and the entire arrangement was two sided. It looked the same from both sides as it was in the center of a table. 

Side View. Aren't these candlesticks AMAZING?

So because it weighed probably 200 pounds, it took two strong guys to load it up into the back of a pick-up truck and take it a few blocks down the street. My poor husband, he was sweating and had no idea what I had gotten him into. I rode in the back of the truck bed with it, praying for no rain. And it got there safe and sound, and now it is slowly dying. (**other waaahhhh!!!) I had a glass of wine last night and slept for 12 hours!