Garden Style Florals for a Still Life are my Jam
To soothe my worries, sometimes I imagine myself traveling in time. What would future Kali say? What would past Kali think about this? It gives me perspective, and widens my lense.
So when photographer Devyn Castro-Almeyda asked about me about creating florals for a still life photography project with photographer Adrian O’Farrill, I didn’t hesitate at the invitation to look back in time again.
For my florals, I imagined a gardener from the neighborhood 100 years ago coming to visit my garden today. I thought there was a lot this past gardener would recognize, so many of the flowers we grow are the same that people have been cultivating for a couple centuries. Maybe some of my flowers are the direct descendent a flower they cared for. A kind of linking hands with gardeners of the past and future.
My arrangement is about looking forwards and backwards, in and out. The sweeping coral vine at the top connect it all in one singular loop. My favorite details in the above painting-erm-photograph include the red in the mulberries, the champagne lisianthus, and the way the coral vine encircles the arrangement like a planetary ring.
Special shout out to Tampa vintage shop The Far Forest for the perfect books, vessels, and fabric. We had a lot of fun playing with perspective, depth, and color with the assortment of incredible objects they have available.
Still life paintings usually featured what was growing right there. The artists didn’t go to a grocery store where produce and flowers were flown from thousands of miles away. What do we have right here? What’s good? Right now. Right outside your window.
Want to take your floristry skills to the next level? Sign up for an upcoming workshop with me, or let’s create a private class just for you.
