Flowers, Flowers
How to create celebration arrangements for anniversaries, Christmas, the New Year, Easter, Hallowe'en, Mother's Day, weddings, birthdays and house warmings. Which containers to choose to complement arrangements: pottery, china, wood, basketry or metal, and how to make unusual natural containers from vegetables and foliage. How to arrange flowers according to particular color schemes, through the spectrum of reds, yellows and greens to blues, whites and mixed combinations. Selecting floral themes, whether formal or informal, period or modern, scented, edible or tropical. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step photographs and an illustrated chapter on techniques show you how to achieve perfect results. A comprehensive gazetteer acts as a reference guide to over 300 flowers. In Flowers, Flowers!, the artistry and expertise of Paula Pryke's masterful flower arranging skills are now accessible for the first time, to capture the imagination, teach and inspire.
Customer Review: Flower Arrangement as an Art Form
Paula Pryke is an artist is every sense of the word. Coming across this magnificently and luxuriously illustrated book is like discovering a famous artist new to you. The topic is 'Inspired Arrangements for All Occasion' and both the writing and illustrations certainly prove that claim to be true.
But what is so very different in this rich volume than in other volumes on flower arranging is the unique approach to the medium. Pryke's keen eye combines not only flowers of every possible kind (from simple wild garden blossoms to the most exotic of species from strange lands), but she also sees vegetable, seeds, gourds, branches, twigs, moss, vines - all are of equal importance to her choices for synthesis of her amazing creations.
Some Floral designers elect to create books about their craft that are limited to beautifully photographed final arrangements. Paula Pryke, with a winning writing style, takes us through the puzzling mysteries of how she finds and assembles the components of her art. She also separates the book into simple works, arrangements according to a unified color scheme, and arrangements and accoutrements that are celebratory for holidays and special occasions.
Whether this book is added to the library as a coffee table adornment (sure to be admired by all discerning guests) or as a guide to creative floral design, FLOWERS, FLOWERS! is an artwork containing some of the most exquisite floral you will encounter. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 06
Customer Review: all you want to know about flower arrangement
This book has all you would like to know about flower arrangement. Starting from how the flowers make it to the market(from the growers) ,to the Common names and Latin names of the different flower species. There are superb pictures of 100s of arrangements for different occassions and step by step descriptions of how to do some of them. What I liked the most , was the last chapter called techniques, it has a thorough description of all the equipment one needs to do these elaborate arrangents. However, for a complete beginner like me , this book might seem too intense as the arrangements are quite elaborate. At any rate, it makes a good coffee table read.