Being “present” or “in the moment” is the latest craze – or so it seems. From t-shirt taglines to Facebook posts, everyone (including myself) is striving to slow down and take in the world around them. For me, a funny thing happened once I actually started practicing the slow it down method – I became inspired.
Everyday, I drive along a road in Palm Beach called Coconut Road and pass by a quaint church that I often attend with my family. On this particular day, I noticed an overwhelming amount of bright pink bougainvillea overtaking an 8-foot lush, green ficus hedge. The image was breathtaking. Now when I pass the church every day, whether on my way to school with the kids or to work, I slow down and simply admire the presence of the blooming flower. I’d like that image to last and I would really like to invite it into my home. Lucky for me, Palm Beach is a playground for exquisite landscaping and year-round blooms and inspiration.
My next step was to do something with “my inspiration”. So I brought out the sketchpad and recreated the image in order to capture the softness for one of my Dailies. I’m thinking the print would make an exquisite placemat to dress up my everyday white china or to use on my outdoor table for a Sunday night barbecue.
I’ll use a bold shade of pink, mix in hints of deep green and let my silver flatware be the shinning accent. The beauty of this simple print is in its versatility and sophistication. Say I decide to use the color combination for an evening affair- I could draw in a dark grey or black to garner more depth. The grey doesn’t need to be flat. It could be a linen background with a textured tone on tone shading – I need to get to the drawing board for that one! Dark Dailies encircling a vase filled with fresh hydrangeas would lessen the femininity of the color pink while adding a formal punch to the combination. The variety of applications for this one simple Dailie is unending.
Now if I could only slow down enough to note every obscure and hilarious statement my kids make. That’s another project for another day!