Sunday, April 27, 2008

Fruit for flowers

Edith Schaeffer's Hidden Art is one of those epic books in the life of a Christian woman. She packs a zillion ideas of how to satisfy our aesthetic cravings in the context of home and family, but grounds it in a biblical understanding of art as a means to reflect our Creator and bless others. From her chapter on "Flower Arrangements":
Japanese artists make a life long study of flower arrangements, expressing their philosophy in this medium as well as producing works of art. It can take hours to make a Japanese flower arragnment, if it is done with precise attention to detail. Colour, texture, exact length of stem and degree of angle must be taken into consideration. It can be most complicated and depends on much study and understanding of all that is meant to be involved. This is an art that needs to be learned, an art which needs a teacher as well as talent.

However, anyone can express himself with some degree of originality in the area of flower arrangement.
Every home can have something of this art form in it. [It] is not a permanent part of the interior decoration, not a life-long treasure to be taken from home to home, but a constantly changing source of beauty, a continually fresh 'finishing touch' to the surroundings.

I'm not necessarily advocating that you can go out and buy a book on flower arrangements, and carefully try to buy all the bits and pieces, along with the flowers, to carry out its instructions. . . . . What I am taking about is something anyone could do, anywhere: an expression of individuality, personality, originality. . . . The decoration does not have to be the same thing all the time; and
it does not have to be flowers at all.
Using a fruit separator I traded for at a white elephant gift exchange, here's my take on a flower arrangement.



Thanks to Mr. Miller's appetite, this arrangement is, as Edith notes, is a "constantly changing source of beauty."

Fellow bloggers, I'd love to see your take on the flower arrangement. So please point, click, upload, and post next time you arrange something for your table!

5 comments:

Families of the Nations said...

Right now we've got two interesting looking rhubarb "flowers" (which means the rhubarb plants are trying to bolt and we've stopped them!) augmented by one red tulip and one yellow, all in a blue vase.

Rachel said...

I love the fruit! Beautiful, and indeed ever changing :) That book is so inspirational; thanks for posting some of it and inspiring me again!! If anything beautiful "happens" at our house I'll try to take a picture and post it!!

orneryswife said...

Whenever the budget allows, and I am in the mood to arrange them, I purchase little bunches of flowers at the grocery store. They are inexpensive, and over time I have accumulated all the accouterments necessary to make a passable arrangement.

Elizabeth and I once took a flower arranging class so we could arrange the flowers for her wedding. Our favorite arrangement in class was a topiary style of white roses in a shallow vase surrounded with statice at the bottom. The stems were all wrapped with a ribbon that was tied in a bow just below the buds. It was simple but very elegant.

My arrangements are rarely what one would consider works of art, so I rely on selecting exceptionally pretty flowers. There is something very elevating about having such beauty around.
TM

Susanna Rose said...

I love this idea that anything can become a beautiful center piece! If the surface of our table is ever clear of chairs and other clutter;), I'll do something and post a picture too!

Zach and Kaley Miller said...

So good to see the white elephant gift put to good use! I just knew someone creative could make good use of the separator, and you were definitely that someone!