Chrysanthemums – Adorn

While I briefly wore the chrysanthemum crown myself, I really had intended it for my favorite model. It’s SO much better on her!  I love photography but I also like to use photos like these as reference for future paintings, when my chrysanthemums are no longer in bloom. Here are some of the ones I like the most from the shoot:

I adore how the chrysanthemum petals create a fringe-like shadow, echoing her eyelashes!  This flower in Victorian language of flowers can mean wealth and abundance, cheerfulness, and a wonderful friend.

Crown of Chrysanthemums

The chrysanthemum season has come to a close. I decided to forgo the last of the season bouquet in favor of whipping up a chrysanthemum wreath in the last bits of sun before the oncoming rain. The mums are a long lived cut flower but their life fashioned into a crown brief but glorious!

 

 

Crowned – Queen Mum!

Chrysanthemum Teacups

Of course the reason I began growing chrysanthemums in the first place is so I could put them in a matching teacup! I found several that I loved, one was a Limoges cup and saucer from 1895 with fabulous gold orbs bordered in black, the other (c. 1900) a handpainted Bavarian cup and saucer signed by Helen (HKaub) Grossart. Even if I didn’t have the exact mums on hand I thought I should shoot what I had so I would have something to work with.  I also couldn’t resist shooting with some of the miniature pitchers, reminiscent of Fiestaware.

 

Mums the Word

I was entranced by the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society’s transplant display last spring. So many exciting varieties that looked like fringed tassels, sea anemones, pompoms and spiders! I was excited about growing them up on my sunny porch (away from the deer) in pots that I would feed with recycled kitchen water  due to the drought). I even became an official member!I was entranced by the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society’s transplant display last spring. So many exciting varieties that looked like fringed tassels, sea anemones, pompoms and spiders! I was excited about growing them up on my sunny porch (away from the deer) in pots that I would feed with recycled kitchen water  due to the drought). I even became an official member!I was entranced by the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society’s transplant display last spring. So many exciting varieties that looked like fringed tassels, sea anemones, pompoms and spiders! I was excited about growing them up on my sunny porch (away from the deer) in pots that I would feed with recycled kitchen water  due to the drought). I even became an official member!

Well, I did not attend any meetings, and only casually scanned my newsletter. I did meticulously handwash all the leaves during an aphid infestation (which never reoccured!) I did not religiously pinch them back and when they grew leggy and unruly I only propped them up with a few stakes and some ribbon.  The results were hardly professional but very rewarding to me.

I kind of love the shaggy tumble of these mums grown way to close together in the over bright sun and spotty rain, but the reason I grew them in the first place was shoot them for my Birds & Teacups series.

More on that next post!