Scanning flowers gives these beautiful objects a unique rawness, detail, intensity and eeriness. Some examples below are complication arrangements and others just a single bloom, others use plastic flowers and digital alteration.
Image one, four and seven by Katinka Matson, image two by Pantry Violets, images three, five and six by Yedda Morrison.
Check out these beautiful handmade resin vases by artist Kate Rhode with quirky floral arrangements by the lovely Cecilia Fox. More info on the collection, titled Ornamental Crimes over at The Design Files.
All photographs by Andrew Barcham.
Tania’s taste is always spot on. Check out a few pics from her blog Delectable Daily.
All images via Delectable Daily.
House & Garden – June 1970 by Olivia Hantken
I picked up this treasure whilst shopping with my mum in Brunswick many years ago. There was a big stack and I regret that we only bought two! They float between her bookcase and mine as we not only love the beautiful images, but enjoy the time warp we enter when reading them.
Whilst not strictly gardens, below is a series of images from this issue featuring alfresco living ideas and interior design.
My favourite is without a doubt the bean bag room. This was taken from the penthouse of french actor Francois Perrier (on Boulevard St Germain of course!). He was aided by interior decorator Francois Arnal, who also painted the black and white composition on the far wall.
Along with the Zanuda bean bag chairs, the feature cactus and amazing ash trays make me conjure images of some of the amazing parties Francois must have thrown.
All images from House & Garden – June 1970. British, American, French No. 6 Whole No. 250 Volume 25 The Conde Nast Publication.
French floral artist Claire Basler’s home and studio in Les Ormes, and hour an a half from Paris, is filled the nature. There is a constant flow of fresh floral displays which inspire her paintings, drawings and textile designs, all of which also blanket the property.
Photographs one and two by Mads Mogensen for Elle Decor South Africa, photographs three to eight and all artworks by Claire Basler.
Friends are constantly sending me bits and pieces about gardens and flowers, so I figured it was time to give some a chance to guest post on the blog. So that brings us to our first ever guest post by the lovely Olivia Hantken. Liv works at innovative design and film collective Collider, and has a key eye for aesthetics. Please welcome her to The Secret Garden!
Frozen Flowers by Olivia Hantken
Tomorrow is the first day of winter, but in Sydney it’s feeling more like spring. Our gardens will be happy at least, and far happier than in Kiev, Ukraine, where winter can mean a freezing over of everything green.
Earlier this year the Ukranian’s embraced this notion and held their first frozen flower exhibition The Flowers of the Snow Queen. Inspired by Hans Christan Andersen’s children’s tale The Snow Queen, the event symbolises the coming together of summer and winter / warmth and cold.
Who Wore It Better is a blog curated by Alison Feldish and Derek Frech which compares similar artworks. Click on the image to view its creator.
Henry Darger is an artist and writer with an unusual story. He was orphaned and institutionalised as a young child and spent his adult life living as a recluse in Chicago. It was only after his death that Darger’s landlord discovered an epic 15,145 page narrative titled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.
The story follows seven young girls as they fight against a variety of sadistic adults while being protected by a slew of fantastical animals. The writings are accompanied by several hundred drawings and watercolour paintings. Some of the images are calm and filled with flowers. Others a violent and tortured. It’s an incredible juxtaposition between innocence and extreme brutality, and gives us a glimpse into the mind of this mysterious man.
Jessica Yu made a film about Darger and his work The Realms of the Unreal (2004).
Artist and ceramicist Kim Jaeger has been creating these super cute ‘potheads’ since 2011.
Historia Films (a collaboration between photographer Mike Smith and blogger Laura Quattrocelli) have made a little film about Jaeger’s work. You can also check out an interview with her on The Design Files.
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My mother has a vase at home which reminds me of these potheads. It’s by Arab Australian artist Salwa El-Shaikh.
Photograph by Sophia Kaplan.
Although Karl Blossfeldt’s botanical photogravures are his most famous work, he was also a well respected sculptor and professor of art. His interest in and eye for form and texture are evident in these images, which are striking in both the complexity of the subject and the simplicity of his photographic style. He used a homemade camera and had his work published in 1929 in his book Urformen der Kunst (Archetypes of Art).
Whitechapel Gallery in London is currently exhibiting a selection of his images until June 14, 2013.
All photographs by Karl Blossfeldt.
Not related to this exhibition, but beautiful nonetheless are these pictures of flowers dripping in ice.
The Secret Garden 
