Houseplants and Inherited Pots

So this week I crossed something off one of my on-going to-do lists. It felt so good. I'm sure as much as it made me feel good to actually get it done, my plants had to feel a million times better. See that poor, overcrowded spider plant up there? Yeah that guy has been in that pot for ...four years. Poor thing. And the aloe vera (bottom left corner of the photo below)? The one that doesn't even look like an aloe? It has been in it's pot for almost as long. It also has some pretty special qualities - nay - miraculous qualities. Like rebirth or resurrection. I have pretty thoroughly killed it at least twice. Now, before this scares you off from my floral designing skills, let me remind you of two things: One, cut flowers are very different from planted in the dirt flowers, and Two, I lived in a basement for those last four years. Personally, I feel somewhat proud that any houseplant made it that long. (Of course, not pictured are all the casualties of said basement, and of all our trips to the South when no one watered them.)

Some of the plants were planted in teacups my Grandma gave me. I Love succulents planted in teacups. And I love those teacups. But all the sunshine that comes in my new windows is causing them to grow a little too much. (I guess that just means I need to buy a few more baby succulents asap!)

The new vessels are these sweet, hand-painted in Mexico pots the previous owners of our house graciously left for us. Okay, maybe they were just tired of cleaning out their basement, but I like to think of them as little gift. I seriously Love them. I'll have to take some better photos later so you can see the details. (Some people manage to take amazing photos with their iPhones. I'm not really one of those people.)

Now, this poor little succulent has lived in it's original plastic home for the past two years! I feel terrible. Hopefully it makes the beautiful new vase all the more hospitable and it will grow like crazy. 

Thank goodness we've got an army man protecting the aloe. It needs all the help it can get.

Happy bright plants and pots!

Do you have houseplants? Do you have any flower pots you particularly love? (....are you an over sentimental house plant owner like me? hehe)

Abbie+Joe

Abbie and Joe.... bright, creative, fun, artistic, spunky, fashionable. All around a pretty talented and awesome couple, one might say.

Looking through their wedding photos and thinking back to their day back in October has given me some time to think a little about what in particular was so wonderful about working on the designs for their wedding. I love weddings in part because I love the challenge of working my designs and style into a theme - evoking an atmosphere and adding to a specific look. 

Abbie wanted flowers that were cute and romantic, but not friendly. I like that. One of the reasons I work in and love the European floral style is that it is garden inspired, and gardens, while they can provide beauty and nourishment, are not completely safe or friendly. They might have thorns or bugs or snakes or any number of things besides flowers and food. And that is okay! Nature is part of life - you take the hard and the soft, the beautiful and the ugly, the rough and the smooth, and enjoy it. I don't like to pretend life is perfect or to wear rose colored glasses. Part of the beauty of life is the reality of imperfection or difficulty - that dichotomy of seeing the light because of the darkness.

And I think that's a lovely thing to consider for wedding flowers: while weddings are a celebration of the start of a marriage and of something wonderful, relationships are hard and complicated and not always pretty, so why not get started celebrating the whole of it? I don't know if that was what Abbie was going for, or if she just likes to keep things a little more edgy or didn't want to be cliche, but I'm glad she made that request and gave me the chance to explore some slightly less traditional wedding flower ideas and looks. 

Thank you Abbie and Joe for letting me be a part of your fabulous and fun wedding celebration! Best wishes and love to you.

And thank you to the amazing Jenna St. Martin for providing these fantastic images. (I believe more will be sneaking their way in to various blog posts to come... I just can't get enough!)

Cheers!

A Flower Education: Hellebores

Why talk about Hellebores?

Because they are currently in bloom. Also, one of my friends recently mentioned her growing interest in them, which makes for a good excuse to do a little blog piece on it.  Aaaand because they're one of my favorites. :)

Why are they one of my favorites?

Brightness in the dull, grey Winter. Long-lasting beauty. Delicate sturdiness.

What are some of their unique characteristics, or, how would I know if I saw one?

Well, first of all, they carry the nicknames of Christmas Rose and Lenten Rose because they bloom during those seasons. In Portland, however, it would be pretty surprising to see the majority of the hybrids grown in the area as early as Christmas. Lenten Rose is probably the most accurate nickname around here. I associate them with February and March. In appearance, they are low and bushy, with dark green notched leaves (many varieties have much fuller foliage than you see in the photos I have posted). The heads are more bell-like and face downward. There are some hybrids that have double layers or face outward, but a primary characteristic is the bowed head. I love that: sweet, humble and beautiful, but surprising in detail and beauty if you take the time to look. 

In floral design and gardening, what are they useful for, or where do we want to see them? 

Winter growing season!! Woo! I love seeing things that grow in Winter in Portland. Bulbs and flowering shrubs are cool, but hellebores show up even earlier than most of our other Wintery flowers, so they are a huge asset to any yard. They can grow under other trees and shrubs as well, so they're great for layering and covering areas that could easily be really boring in Winter. They look incredible in bouquets and floral arrangements, too, as a rare local Winter flower. The color options are super gorgeous, too... olive green, deep purple to black, deep cranberry, white and off white... gorgeous colors that compliment nearly any color scheme. As Soon as we get a move on with landscaping plans here at the new house hellebores are going to be a huge priority. I'll just have to make sure to plant enough for cutting, too! (Not for eating, though... they can be toxic.)

What smarty-pants scientific characteristics do we need to know about them, and why do we care? 

First of all, they have five sepals, rather than petals. This is cool because it allows them to hold up for a very, very long time. You may have noticed the abnormally long "flowering" period - which is because the sepals remain in tact through the time that if it were a "flowering" and "fruiting" plant it would have changed and lost it's petals. They are also deep-rooted, allowing them to last through our coldish winters as perennials. Even when the beautiful sepals are gone, most varietals are evergreen and have lovely, dark green notched leaves year round. Another smarty pants note: hellebores and hybrids are part of the Ranunculaceae family. Other Ranunculaceae kids you may recognize are buttercups and clematis! Love that family. 

So, what are your thoughts? Have you heard of hellebores before? Would you use them to your garden or add them to your wedding?

Let's Get Controversial

Okay, I'm going to be controversial here for a minute. No, no, I'm not going to talk about the Oscars. For one, I have only ever seen one Oscar night before, so I have basically nothing to compare it to. And two, I only saw half of it this year. If we were going to throw a three in there, it would be that... I do think Seth is funny, even though he went out of line - what do you expect? Oh, and fourth reason I am not going to talk about the Oscars: I'm just all about Jennifer Lawrence and she's basically all I would talk about. Aaaand all the movies that I want to see now that I haven't had time to see yet.  Like Life of Pi and Argo. And Lincoln (yes, it looks boring and I still want to see it). And Silver Linings Playbook, again. 

Oh, but I was going to talk about something controversial! Yes, back to that. Valentine's Day, ya'll. It's so controversial! Every year! Half the city has fun however they choose, and the other half gets really obnoxious and digs deep in their fancy bag of weird excuses and ridiculous angst and talks about how they haaaattteee Valentine's Day (even the chocolate!) and will Not be celebrating. I think I heard more than ever about how awful and pointless Valentine's Day is this year than ever before. Even if it is made up, whatever! Let's take an excuse and do something fun (as I mentioned in a V-day post here) or just share the love - whatever kind of love you are experiencing right here and right now (like I talked about last year here). 

Just in case you were wondering what the hus and I did for Valentine's this year, we went snowboarding. SO EXCITING. It's been Three Years. We now have been sufficiently reminded that we are old and our knees are not what they were. But it was awesome. (Ooo I have also recently been reminded of my aging self by finding not one but four grey hairs! Haha!) And along with snowboarding, Josh gave me a closet overhaul. Thankfully I don't have a "before" photo so you don't have to see the miserable, disorganized wreck that I have lived with - my own fault - for the past five months. But ohhhh I do love that man! And he does know me well and know what kinds of gifts I like. (For the sake of honesty and full-disclosure, we actually didn't do either of those things REALLY for Valentine's... they just happened to happen the weekend of Valentines day and we are broke so we rolled them into the holiday. Works for me.)

Did you have fun this Valentine's Day? Did you watch the Oscars? Do you have any suggestions for other controversial topics I should address (kidding!!!)?

Change

Do you ever find yourself surprised at how easily we adapt to change? I mean, there are a million jokes about people hating change and resisting it, but have you ever noticed that once it happens it just... happens? And then you don't even notice it anymore? (Like every time facebook does an updated - the entire internet population has a meltdown for precisely 20 minutes, then has no idea that anything was ever different and they fiercely love it till the next change.) I generally assume that's a good thing. Some sort of coping mechanism, or just normal evolution, or normalcy taking over after unfounded fears subside. But... do you ever wish you were able to keep the newness or the differentness (is that even a word?!) of change? I mean, some changes are things that we really really want and hope for and work to create. I work with a lot of brides-to-be who are looking forward to their weddings and their marriages and their lives changing forever. I assume they hope that it will continue to feel new and exciting for more than a couple of weeks. Is that even possible? We humans adapt so much more easily than we think. So how do we remind ourselves that something is different, or something has changed?

As you may recall, we moved this Summer. 

Moving is always a big ordeal. But buying your first home is, as we frequently heard and subsequently discovered for ourselves, some sort of really big deal. Relocating to a different neighborhood is also a big one. Knowing that you will have to turn down weddings and all but quit doing business for a season is a big risk. Crazy insane big stuff, right? By the time the meetings were over, the papers signed (all 3,000,000 of them), the carpets torn out and the walls painted, and we all were moved in to our big (just kidding, pretty small) 1920s bungalow, the changes that we really felt were actually not so big. 

It's not that the change wasn't real, or that we aren't thankful and overjoyed every single day to be in this awesome house, but in the end, the daily routine is about the same and the things that end up sticking out and reminding you "This is so different!" are just not so big. But I do notice, almost every day, that our lives have been changed by being in this house. It could just be some sort of honeymoon period, since we've been here less than a year. And so far what I've seen is it is not the big things, but the little things that remind me something is different - our lives are not the same. 

Take, for instance, my surprise tonight as I came in to the living room to grab the laptop and found that the leftover ranunculus buds I put on the bookshelf had bloomed. Normal, right? Well, not for someone who has spent the last four years living in a basement. If it's not already at least partway open, it's not going to bloom. Nature, just doing its thing, managed to remind me that my life is different, exciting, and wonderful. 

What little things remind you of how your life has changed?

New Look

Here we are in a New Year with a new look for the website. All thanks and credit goes to my ever amazing teammate, business partner, creative webmaster, and constant encourager, Josh (also known as the Hus). 

We are so excited for this New Year - for new challenges, new content, new house, new skills, new brides, new venues, new Adventures!

Welcome 2013!

Christmas time with Bramble

If you're like us you're only about halfway through with your Christmas decorating - maybe you've got your tree up, but not your mistletoe; your stockings hung, but not the lights in your eves. Hopefully you aren't like us, though, in the open boxes of vintage ornaments, spare bits of wire, and an odd assortment of cutting tools in the middle of the living room floor.

Christmas is dangerous, isn't it? Sharp objects, breakable treasures, allergy inducing nature, the temptation to buy someone's love, the threat of burnout from too many pinterest projects and concerts. But what good thing comes without a price or a little element of danger? Let's not spend so much time trying this Christmas - take each day as it comes with just a little measure of anticipation and expectation of the holiness, joy, peace, and love on the day of Christ's birth. I'm not so good at that, but thankfully I've got a husband on my team who constantly reminds me to choose what I want to do each day, and then be okay with my decision. Trust myself? What!?

If I can encourage you to do anything this week, it would be that: be okay with both your abilities and your limits.

...and make sure to order your Christmas wreaths from Bramble! ;)

Island Life

I’ve been told that my driving exclamations are dangerously all the same. My “OH MY GOSH THERE’S A CUTE FARM ANIMAL IN THAT FIELD OVER THERE” and my “OH MY GOSH THERE’S A CAR STOPPED IN FRONT OF US WE’RE GOING TO CRASH” squeals sound identical. Also hard to differentiate are my suggestions and driving tips. Ie, “Oh that place looks cool - maybe one day we should visit” and “PULL OVER NOW”. Usually any noise or observation is just that - a general observation. But on some occasions, particularly when we’re on vacation or have guests, I mean business. 

Like when we took my sister-in-law to Sauvie Island on her trip out West earlier in July. I am of the belief that one of the truest and loveliest parts of the Portland area is that little Island, and one really must experience the Island to truly understand what living in these parts are is about.

The plan was to drive around and to pick some berries. We ended up doing a lot. Of both (with a larger percentage of gravel roads than I anticipated). After putting the husband through an extended drive through the nature preserve (at some point the sister-in-law had decided to take a nap on the backseat), I started hollering about pulling over at that darling u-cut lavender farm we had spotted earlier. I made sure he knew this was serious business hollering, not just vague observation hollering. 

As it turns out, u-cut flowers is pretty quick and easy. The proprietor gave us a quick lesson on the proper way to cut lavender (shake the bees out, cut approx 1.5 inches from the bush base), and a vague notion of how her farm was divided between her 10 varieties (not totally sure), and let us loose to find our favorites. 

In the end, we each ended up with a different favorite, though we had started out as sceptics at a distance to their being any difference at all. Diversity becomes so much more obvious when the variations are all lined up, you know. After trying to gather as many of the 10 species as possible, while adding just a little more of our favorites, we had a lovely, spectacularly fragrant bunch to take home. It’s more than worth the ridiculously low price per bunch to u-cut - I’d pay that price for half hour in sun-baked rows even if I didn’t get to bring any home. We came to the unanimous conclusion that it would be decidedly nice to be a lavender farmer. 

Hiatus

Sea holly, peonies, love-in-a-mist, allium, hydrangea, scabiosa… the flowers I pass in my neighbor’s gardens and the local flower shop. My heart jumps and my mind starts to spin with ideas …to save for later. Ohhh but I just want to bring them home, pair them and juxtapose them and highlight this element and that detail - to share them with you!

But not today.

I’m sure some of you have noticed the lack of blogging as of late.

I fully intended to post a note of explanation when I decided to take some time off, but as you can see… 

Two months later, here we are!

So by way of explanation: my husband and I made some commitments earlier this year that we felt required our full and undivided attention, as well as a larger degree of schedule flexibility. Thus, time off from some of the usual flower arranging, as well as the blog. 

While life is temporarily keeping me from arranging and working with flowers, it cannot stop me from dreaming and plotting designs! 

Note: please feel free to contact me if you have an event coming up - I do have some limited availably and would love to chat with you.

Enjoy your summer!

Rothko

We finally made it! The Rothko show at PAM!

On our way: Nervous. Excited. Ready. 

In the exhibition: Serene. Searching. Navigating.

After: Awed. Understanding. Thoughtful.

Spring Came Last Week

…and it was so weird.

Spring is odd! It’s the most up and down season. I know it’s for a reason - sunny, rainy, sunny rainy makes the plants grow. But it’s still sometimes irritating. It helps, though, to see the results: three inches of growth on my neighbor’s awesome peonies in one day. Tree after tree starting to bloom. Daffodils. Daphne.

It is a bit pitiful to see those poor new buds covered in snow. But the late Winter/early Spring plants are tough and they can handle it. I, on the other hand, did not feel particularly tough as I slid around, waving my arms and trying to keep my footing! Walking on a hill with 2 inches of wet snow is tough; running impossible. I had to give up. So I made the most of my outing and took pictures.

first kick

[me & Bethany and our our Timbers-y earrings]
[Jordan so excited he can’t stand still for a picture]

Just before sunset: cold, raining, windy, loud, EXCITED.

After 6 months of MLS off season, there is enough pent-up soccer energy in Portland to power a small town. Or maybe a brewery. Or at least a few of those insanely bright stadium lights. Some of my friends have been waiting in line since NOON. My husband and a few others since 2:30pm. Last year this worked in our favor. But the rules change and this year we got the short end of the stick and ended up in the upper levels. Our disappointment was soon overpowered by a growing relief of staying DRY, and consequently warm. It also gave me a new appreciation for the 200 levels and their dedication to the army. It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t as loud. It was harder to catch on to things as they happened. But it always came eventually! And we got a somewhat decent view of the tifo from our angle!

As for watching the actual match there were some pros and cons. Pro: easier to see the run of play, fouls, off sides (which there weren’t many!), general bits of the game. Con: not seeing the players expressions after they scored a goal or at the end when they recieved their log slices (one of my favorite parts).

But 3-1 is a good score not matter where you are - new players rookie Jean-Baptist and DP Chris Boyd got to make a smashing debut, and our own Alhassan has confidence under his belt now with his first officla MLS goal! It was an awesome night and I am more pumped than ever for 2012 season!

[fireworks while the players head out onto the field]

[what I turned around and saw - cheers!]

[Bethany after the national anthem, holding her part of the tifo]

[Josh under tifo!]

[someone’s friend that I don’t remember his name, and Nate - excited and loud]

[my view of the Timber’s Army sections of tifo: sunburst!]

[Bethany snagged a sweet flag]

[green smoke bombs this year! way cool!]

[good game with lots of scoring = lots of smoke bombs & lots of nasty, throat choking smells]

[blurry because I had to zoom in- the boys coming over toward the TA!]

[the boys getting their log slices!]

[as one commentator likes to say, “Pandimonium in Portland!” pretty much sums it up]

Ildi's Colorful Fall Wedding

 

September. One of the best months in Oregon. Usually dry, intense blue skies, flowers still blooming but many starting to fade and dry as Fall creeps in. Somehow the Saturday morning of Ildi’s wedding it rained. The ceremony was to be outdoors so as Josh and I drove the long and lovely highway out to Forrest Grove we crossed our fingers that it would dry out for the afternoon. It did stay overcast, but the rain let up for their main event, I’m told. And there is no way that clouds, or even rain, could dampen Ildi’s brightness - she is one fun, colorful, bright, cheerful, all around fabulous lady. Seriously, even as we sat in the car, silently wishing the rain away, I looked down at the bouquets in my arms and thought that the clouds got nuthin on these dahlias!

And check out those amazing crystals in the bridal bouquet! They are from Ildi’s mom’s wedding dress. Totally sweet and really, really beautiful. The personal elements to this wedding were just stunning.

[toss bouquet]

Ildi requested any and all colors for her bouquets (bridal, maid of honor, & toss bouquet) with an emphasis on light purple. The handle wraps were purple and teal, as well as the dresses. Combined with the crystals, lavendar, herbs, berries and roses the effect was almost overwheleming! Ildi personality was totally reflected in her choices and suggestions - beyond fun!

[corsages & boutonnieres]

[flower girl headwreath]

like a lion

If March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb, what does that really mean? Or look like? If a lion is a light dusting of snow followed by a mildly sunny afternoon, that’s a pretty kind hearted and chill lion. Maybe even a brown-nosing lion. Like the Cowardly Lion? It sounds more like a lamb to me - fluffy, wooly, cute. Weather sayings are the weridest! Seriously. But either way, I know March and Spring in Portland means rain. Days like yesterday are just sweet little gifts. 

[Mt Tabor]

[Yellow Crocus]

[Lavender Crocus]

[Harvey Scott pointing to West to downtown Portland]

Bridal Show

When Amy from Swoon Imagery invited me to create some designs for their photography display table at a recent bridal show, I jumped at the chance - these ladies do incredible work! Just a couple minutes to browse their website and you will see what I’m talking about. Freaking cool. And even with their kind of intimidatingly incredible resume and portfolio they are sweet, down to earth and great to work with. I am so grateful that they wanted a few flowers to brighten up their booth - thanks, ladies!

Since the display was for a wedding show, I decided to go with a large, cascading bridal bouquet, as well as two small, clear, square vase centerpiece-type arrangements. Color choices were based on Amy’s comment that their new business card colors are green and plumb (couldn’t love it more!). So I went with a strong emphasis on greens while highlighting anemones, sweat peas - and orange tulips (for a little contrast). 

[Thanks again to Amy of Swoon Imagery for the inspiration and opportunity, and to my ever talented and helpful husband Josh for taking photos]

Sunny NW Wedding

 

[dahlias, lady’s mantle, saffron, astrantia, fountain grass, veronica,

ferns, mint, roses, delphinium, jasmine]

A gorgeous sunny day. A lovely and convenient venue. A great group of people. A considerate and delightfully planned event. Jordan and Janae planned everything down to a T - for a reason! They are sweet, thoughtful and really fun, and wanted their day to be the same. And not just their wedding - their whole relationship is like that! I loved working with them at watching them take care of each other and find ways to make sure the other felt loved, at all times. So good! You two are such a joy!

The venue: Riverview in Troutdale

The photographer: Jess Harvey Photography

[couldn’t resist slipping in a photo of the bride & groom with the hottest groomsman -my husband, of course- and myself, enjoying a beer between the ceremony and reception. Cheers!]

From Bramble, with Love

I know all you haters out there were hoping I’d pass up Valentine’s day since I already mentioned the holiday this year. Sorry, I can’t help it.

And not just because I am a floral designer, of love flowers, or have an awesome significant other. I… kind of like Valentine’s day. I don’t like the greeting card frenzied, red food dye overloaded, sit in a jam-packed restaurant parts of the day. What I like is that we have a day where people are expected to say I LOVE YOU. Some people think the expectation takes away the significance, but I say if it takes a fake holiday to get you to say it, then at least you’ve said it. Saying I love you is like saying I’m sorry. It takes practice. (Too bad we don’t have some sort of weird holiday to say I’m sorry - greeting card people’d better get on it!) But for real - I know that if you only show your s.o. you love them on one day of the year where you HAVE TO then it’s not real and you’re a jerk. But if you’re someone who has baggage about the phrase, hasn’t have much practice with it, or is just plain awkward this is your big chance to get in on one of the best phrases in the world! 

Well, I’ll get off my soap box now. Actually, one more thing: I think the way to make this fake holiday better for everyone is to make sure to say I love you to as many people as you can.  Especially if you s.o. is awesome (or you are awesome) and do those sweet things throughout the year. Take time for someone else!

This year I experimented with a Victorian Posy style bouquet. Something of a theme and variation. We were going for antique and romantic with a little wild and unexpected. 

Recap & Confessions

January was supposed to be my recap month. My time to reflect and consider and plan. During the first week of January I love reading bloggers posts on their previous year and it simply amazes me  that they’re able to make it through the holidays AND do all of their pondering in enough time to blog about it by the first week of January! Can I say I’m not up to that level of organization? I just wanted to end January with some sort of year in review blog post. And, well, it’s February. Looks like that didn’t happen.

The first half of January really was productive (then I got some sort of flu and laid in bed for the second half). I think I could have posted what I learned and some of the good year in review type stuff, but I got caught up in needing to do a little more analyzing, and get my tasks and goals a little more in order, and do something a little better and more interesting, like having a year in review photo post. Are you seeing a trend here? Unhelpful and somewhat incapacitating perfectionism, anyone? Yeah, I think one of my personal and business goals this year should be “take yourself a little less seriously”. Especially since one of my other goals is to make smaller goals than last year (this is surprisingly incredibly difficult for me). (Note: smaller goals does sound kind of bad, but there are good reasons! Mostly related to our commitment to working at our church this year.) 

So, without further ado, editing or thinking, here are my top three learned “dos” and “don’ts” from 2011:

Top 3 Dos:

-Clean workspace FIRST

-Take photos of EVERY project

-Do accounting RIGHT AWAY

Top 3 Don’ts:

-FREAK OUT

-Try something NEW the day of

-Forget coffee

It’s not rocket science and it’s not glamorous, but learning happens continuously and without request or permission. I don’t know what I was hoping to learn in my first real full year as a floral designer, but I’ll take any lessons I can get. It was a good, full year and I more than met my goals. This year’s goals are pretty practical (though they have yet to be turned into tasks and are thus, currently unattainable - I’m on it!) and I have high hopes for an interesting year - learning life lessons along with increasing my practical and creative realms. Hello 2012! 

Now I will leave you with some images of a wild, winter bouquet in welcome of February and the rest of the year:

Jess's Romantic Wedding

Back in July I gave you a very small sneak peek of Jess’s wedding. The only photos I took were in the back of the Jeep during delivery. They are a bit jumbled up as one might expect of a car full of bouquets. But the flowers were so lovely I still go back to those photos.

Then last week Jess sent me some of her professional photos. Eee! From what I can see, the photographer really captured the romantic look Jess was creating for her wedding. The venue was a bed and breakfast with a flower-filled yard and gazebo - if that gives you any idea of how sweet and romantic this wedding was! I can’t even tell you how thrilled I was to meet Jess and hear her vision for her special day - soft pinks, creams, sage, that would be set off by navy. LOVE it so much!

Jess was so great to work with, and had such a great vision for her wedding… it was absolutely wonderful to be a part of dreaming up flowers and bouquets with her! I love working with all types for flowers, and often gravitate toward flowers that are less expected and a little more wild, but there’s a romatic in me that needs only the slightest hint to get rolling. Then I’m gushing garden roses and peonies all day long. 

Enough of that - on to the photos!

[photos by Dina Chmut Photography]

the museum is art

In our efforts to do a better job of saving [for adult things aka house/dog/child/etc] the husband and I have gotten rather serious about free things once again. Last week’s culture and entertainment: fourth Friday night at the Portland Art Museum. I was desperate to see the Titian - what a huge relief it was when I realized it was coming down two days after free night! Having spent two and a half years in the Art History program at PSU, the museum is like an old friend. I have missed my cheap student pass greatly these last three years but still make a point of visiting as many of the gorgeous exhibitions they host - thank goodness for free night. 

As luck would have it, we arrived just as a tour was starting! A unique tour, given by the head security guard: he showed us his favorite (and least favorite) pieces, as well as some of the cool places visitors normally don’t go (because they’re not allowed, and, in some cases, because they just don’t know they can). It was awesome. I hope you can have a similar tour someday when you visit!

On to our Titian. She was exhibited under a warm light in a small, dark enclave - hopefully keeping her cozy and feeling at home, having recently left Florence. I hadn’t expected the crowd and small line to get a closer look. Or the awkwardness of being in a small, dark space with 20 strangers, bumping your arms and blocking your vision. But the overall atmosphere did function to highlight how special this piece is, and how exciting it was to see it in person. The jpeg below is sort of tragic - I thought of leaving it out, but figured most of you wouldn’t bother clicking the link. I wish I could describe the exquisite details and the deep, rich colors - it gives me shivers to remember it. Were I still a student (or bought a pass this year) I would have gone in an off time and sat on that bench for long enough to really savor it. But I went free night on her final weekend, so I sacrificed prolonged viewing for a relived memory of Europe and moments in front of other popular (possibly overly so) works (aka trying to snatch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre).

It was a lovely experience.  

[La Bella (Woman in a Blue Dress)]

   Now for the rest of the museum: 

[the hallway is art: architectural + lighting = sculpture]

[a lucky focusing problem in the museum public library - this place is freak-out cool]

[the elevator is art! light and kid’s fingerprints]

[the green room and green room wall covering]

[the trustee’s boardroom is art: windows, lighting, view]

[the museum-goers are art - or at least they don’t see a problem becoming part of the art by LEANING ON IT. whew. I was a bit aghast, if you can’t tell.]

 [myself and my dear Anna, trying to look seriously important, standing in the boardroom]