rare flowers

One of my favourite artists has opened up her own flower shop called The Tenth Meadow.
Morgan Allender's moody arcadian paintings of cats and landscapes caught my eye many moons ago and then her large dark paintings of flowers where simply breathe-taking. And now Morgan has turned her obvious visual talents to making the most delicious flower arrangements and I wish I could marry again just to have in my hands the untamed, pretty and abundant posy I wished for but could not find in Adelaide seven years ago.

Branches of apple blossom, double daffodil, frill edged grey plants, terracotta pots and gold brass scissors. No bright lights, no plastic tags, no printed cellophane or plastic buckets to distract from the natural beauty of the flowers and leaves. There are arrangements too where different flowers are composed into bunches and there's no feeling of the flowers being anything but tenderly introduced to one another to bring out their best qualities (rather than being tamed into a shape or pulled into compete & contrast).  The transition from painting to flowers seems so smooth; there is a lightness of touch in both whilst also a connection to the earth and to shadow.

So The Tenth Meadow is a pleasure to visit and I took these photographs and bought a fluffy leafed and petaled plant called a Brazilian Edelweisse, which I painted later on in the studio, and my first day in two years without children or scheduled work was pretty much perfecto.