Virginia Fine Arts Museum presents Fine Arts and Flowers

The 13th annual Fine Arts and Flowers is being held this weekend at the Virginia Fine Arts Museum in Richmond, VA.  Our club had three members that were invited to create floral designs to interpret works of art.  The art pieces were assigned to the designers and they I think they did a fabulous job creating their arrangements.  There were over 85 different floral designs and I think I took photos of them all. I will be posting different blogs about them in the coming days.  I hope you can get a feel for how talented and gorgeous this show has been.  Tomorrow is the last day, so hurry on over if you live in the area.  Our three designers are Rita Johnson, Doris Crowell, and Susanne Hillier. I will post their flower arrangements in that order.

Designing Divas of the Chester Garden Club

The program at the September meeting was fantastic.  We had four of our very talented designers showcase different styles of design.  Our 1st VP Rita Johnson showcased the Assemblage, and the Transparency designs,  Doris Crowell, a Master Judge and Novice class teacher, demonstrated the use of Features and Accessories.  She stated that when using a Feature you need to remember that it needs to be the focal point of the design and without it the design is incomplete.  An Accessory is a compliment.  Without it the design is still complete.  Susanne Hillier taught us the Horizontal line design with added components that transformed it into an Angular design.  And our own Gypsy Cook taught us how to make the Spatial Thrust design type.  She used the Handbook to describe how to accomplish making it and made four designs for us to see a vertical, horizontal, and diagonal Spatial Thrust design.  Enjoy the photos.  The ladies gave me permission to post these pictures.

September Multi-rhythmic designs

The Multi-rhythmic design type was interpreted by a few ladies at the club meeting.  The difficult arrangements were done very well although it is a challenging type of design.

September miniature designs

The schedule called for "Purple Haze" to be a miniature, all fresh design.  We had some lovely submissions.

CGC September Designs "Sunny Days" all fresh

One of the classes for the September schedule was "Sunny Days"  all fresh.  Since there wasn't a design style specified, the members had a great time with their own interpretations.

Chester Garden Club September Horticulture

Even after a long dry spell, we had beautiful horticulture brought into the club meeting.  Below are just a few examples of the plant material.

The Multi-rhythmic floral design

The Chester Garden Club is beginning its year this month and one of the design options on our schedule is the multi-rhythmic.  It is a complicated design calling for balance, at least two different rhythms, attention to scale and symmetry.   I can't wait to see what our talented designers come up with this month.  Stay tuned.  I'll post their arrangements soon.  In the meantime, here are some examples of the multi-rhythmic design type.  The floral designers were not noted on the web pages.

Basic Floral Designs

Our Club has started a Novice Class and the emphasis is to teach them the basic concepts of simple designs. We have a separate schedule for this group and after two years and blue ribbons in that class, they graduate to the Schedule created for the entire club.  At this time it seems important to show them photos that depict a simple floral design and begin teaching the techniques for the horizontal, vertical, triangular, crescent, circular, and Hogarth curve design.  I scanned the Internet for basic designs and diagrams. I will include these photos below.  The designers names are unknown.

Triangle design:

The next section is the Crescent design

The next is the Hogarth curve:

The Assymetrical triangle

The Vertical design

The Horizontal design