Creative explorations Vol #9: Floral

A sketchbook/art journal prompt to support your art and creative practice.

Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash

Creative Explorations are themed around a prompt that you can explore in your own art/creative practice over the coming weeks. Prompts will be sent out on the first Friday of every month. I hope this month’s prompt sparks your creativity!

Last week, I attended the 2nd Annual Tulip Festival in New Delhi, India. The roads and gardens were filled with brightly blooming tulips in a riot of colors, most of which have been imported from The Netherlands.

As I took in the riot of colors and the people strolling around the gardens and pathways, I couldn’t help but marvel at the ephemeral beauty of nature, of the capacity that a simple flower has to elevate one’s mood. Perhaps that’s why so many artists through the years have been fascinated by botanical art.

So for this month, why not explore all things FLORAL in our art journals?

Resources + ideas

Floriography: Floriography simply means the language of flowers. Popular in the Victorian era, women used flowers as a secret language, to convey feelings of love, friendship, annoyance and more, without the knowledge of their chaperones. Within the art of floriography, every flower carries its own special meaning or symbolism, which can also be influenced by its variety and color. Some flowers even take on a new meaning depending on the number of flowers that are in a bouquet! For example, a single daffodil is said to bring bad luck, while a bunch of them can be given for good luck! Take a look at these vintage floriography book images and this list of flowers and their meanings, and consider how you can interpret your findings in your art journal.

Watercolor bouquet: Watercolors lend themselves beautifully to flowers. It’s probably got something to do with transparency and with the way the colors blend and bloom that just works for flowers! Why not try your hand at a few watercolor florals in your journals?

Flower pounding: All you need for this technique is some fresh flowers, watercolor paper, a paper towel and a hammer. Lay your flower, petals down, on the paper. Cover with wax paper, and gently hammer until you see the colors start to transfer to the watercolor paper! Here’s a YouTube tutorial so you can see how this works.

Fussy cut flowers: If you like making collages and are in need of focal images, or want some handmade “stickers” for your journal, why not paint a few flowers and fussy cut them? {fussy cutting is simply cutting around the shape or outline of an image, somewhat like the thin white border you have around stickers.} You can stick them into your journals using a good glue stick or double sided tape.

Drawing inspiration from O’Keeffee: Georgia O’Keeffe is perhaps synonymous with abstract florals. Her painting titled Flower Abstraction is among the earliest of her large-scale flower paintings, which she continued to produce through the 1950s. Using the close cropping technique that she learned from modernist photography, O’Keeffe transformed her botanical subjects into compositions that veer between abstraction and representation. See this collection of some of her paintings, this video on how to draw a O’Keeffe inspired flower, and this piece on The Art of Seeing. And then try your hand at painting some abstract florals in your art journal!

I look forward to seeing your take on this prompt! You can email your finished pieces to me on shinjinim@substack.com or share them on Notes if you use the Substack app. If you share on Instagram, tag me @moderngypsy.in

Like this prompt? Share it with your friends and invite them into our virtual studio. If you’re on the Substack app, please consider restacking this post.