Careful what you haul into your studio – you just might end up making art out of it!

My kids had just outgrown their antique twin beds. Well, truth be told, one just broke and the the other was already damaged when I bought it all those years ago. I’d fallen in love with the pair and had planned on painting them out and reupholstering them but there was always something more pressing (or more engaging) on my list… so the kids made do. When the beds finally gave out, the only one who was nostalgic about getting rid of them was me. I took pictures and was planning on selling them (to someone who wasn’t a full time artist).

I stashed them in my studio as a quick fix while the new beds were set up. And then it dawned on me – weren’t those were daffodils carved into the woodwork?! Isn’t one of my primary interests the secret language of flowers?! Hadn’t I planned on one day doing a whole series of Floral Beds to compliment my Florilegia series?!

Remember Me was the first (and only) manifestation in this Floral Bed agenda in which live flowers fill a bed to evoke the meaning of the particular flower.

I love the effective  simplicity of the wicker casket and the forget-me-nots combination in conveying the title message, “remember me”.

I have to decide whether I want to keep the paired down aesthetic of Remember Me or if I should rework the head board, using traditional techniques inspired by antique crazy quilts.

To that end, I scored this mound of sumptuous velvet swatches in cotton, silk and mohair, all free from Fabmo (a creative reuse resource for designer ends).

The sky’s the limit but that’s no help as the daffodils will be blooming in no time!