Flower garlands can be worn on many occasions.
For instance, wreaths of delicate Baby's Breath (Gypsophyla) might be worn by young girls at weddings or other religious ceremonies. Young princesses might wear a garland of flowers as Princess Charlotte did when she attended the coronation of King Charles II on May 6, 2023.
But not many of us will wear one today or in fact, at any time soon. And so, I decided to paint a garland of unspecified flowers for this young woman.
Crown of flowers date back to the early days of humanity.
We see them on ancient statues, and in paintings. Wreaths in Ancient Greece were worn by men and women. Myrtles, rosemary, olive and oak leaves and acorns are pictured in crowns over many centuries and have different meanings.
Ancient Romans celebrated the arrival of spring with the Floralia festival and wore floral garlands. It was a high honour for any Roman to be awarded the Civic crown, an oak leaf garland given for bravery, courage, service and defense of the empire.
A floral wreath was a symbol of femininity during the Victorian Era. Queen Victoria wore a crown of orange blossoms on her wedding day.
No doubt, this timeless and often intricate accessory will continue to be popular as we strive to express our connection to nature and a simpler lifestyle.
I want to paint a picture, Botticelli style
Instead of Venus on a clam, I'd paint this flower child
You are the air my flowers breathe, he calls, and the ladies turn around
On the first day of Spring, I'm looking at the only joy around. - Joni Mitchell, The Only Joy in Town.
How will you celebrate this first full day of spring?
For a moment I thought that it was Frida Khalo with flowers in her hair. As for resolutions, I need to get outside and paint – I was going to take out some pastels in the colder weather.
Funny you should say that – I had thought of painting Kahlo but then changed my mind. Happy Easter.
A perfect painting to welcome in Spring. She is beautiful and the colours brilliant.
Thank you Vivienne. I ruined one and saved one. There are days like that in the studio! Happy Easter.
She is perfect Louise, a great tribute to the start of Spring in your end of the world. Whilst everything is starting to come back to life and colour in your gardens, ours are showing signs of colour on the leaves of deciduous trees, and as the wind blows they flutter to the ground. Although it is Autumn here the days are still sunny and relatively warm, but the nights are cool, and other than about a ml of rain yesterday everything is dry as a bone due to lack of rain, well where we are anyway. Where we stayed for our holiday it started raining the day before we left and continued quite heavily for about 2 hours into our drive, once we hit Victoria it stopped.
We have had a very strange winter with little snow and so farmers’ fields will likely be very dry here as well. It is expected that we will have very destructive and costly forest fires much like last year unless spring brings offers up a good amount of rain. Enjoy your fall Sally! Thanks for stopping by.
Simply great!!!
Thank you Birgit.