Plant, Flowers -- A collaboration, part one

 

Steam Turbine

Turbine with flower installation

The idea started with this steam turbine, whose copper pipes ascend like sapling tree trunks toward the upper levels of the machinery.  My thought was to bring in branches and flowers and install them on the copper pipes to juxtapose their industrial purpose with organic forms.   As much as I liked my purely industrial gouache sketches, I thought that this might elevate the painting I've been doing to another level.

I have the good fortune to have a friend and neighbor, @seattleflowerworks, who, when I asked what she thought of the idea, jumped onboard.

We went to the flower markets to get supplies -- although the selection was limited by the time of year, we found gorgeous flowers to make a hot color arrangement in the space.

We wrapped the pipes in chicken wire to provide a structure to hold the flowers. Then we cut and arranged the flowers.

Kathy Rautureau @seattleflowerworks and me -- we are feeling very happy to have the flower arranging done!

But my final goal for this project is a painting.  I'll give you an update on that in the next post.  Thanks to Beth Shepherd Photography @bethshepherdphotography for some of these images -- she came in to help document the experience with her fine camera and lenses.

PS -- I haven't used the blogger software in a while and I'm finding it a bit funky!  Apologies for that and I hope I'll get back in the swing of things soon.