‘Working with flowers in a creative way was so therapeutic’
Artist, business owner and mum of four Joanne Robinson, from Ayr, wanted to finally try her hand at floristry, after years of never finding the time.
Choosing flowers for my bouquet made me feel like a kid in a sweet shop!
Ayear ago, my husband, Nigel, and I bought a house with an acre of land, so I’ve been learning to grow all kinds of flowers. However, when it came to cutting and arranging them in a vase, they never looked as good as I thought they should.
As an artist who teaches people to paint and draw for a living, I felt despondent that I wasn’t able to arrange flowers properly. But my philosophy for life and my business, The Little Art School, is that it’s never too late to learn something new. I’ve spent my career teaching people who say, ‘I’m not creative,’ to paint and draw, so if they can do it, I can, too!
When I arrived at Marie Bailey’s beautiful floristry atelier, Ollie & Ivy, in Edinburgh, it was the overwhelming smell of flowers and greenery that hit me first. Then I saw all the fresh and dried flowers everywhere – it was such an arresting, sensory environment that it made me feel calm and relaxed.
I was so excited in the run-up to the class, although once we started, I quickly realised floristry is a lot more technical than I first thought. Marie began by explaining the theory behind her floristry, which is a Parisian garden style. She described it as being akin to achieving a no-makeup look, in that you spend a long time making it look effortlessly natural.
She taught me about texture, form, shape and colour theory. As an artist, I have a good understanding of these areas already, so applying it to flower arranging came fairly naturally.
Next, Marie taught me how to condition flowers. I’ve always known to snip the end of the stem and remove a few leaves, but Marie taught me there’s a lot more to it, such as carefully removing the nodules without damaging the stem and taking the guard petals off roses.
After Marie’s demonstration, it was over to me. I was making a hand-tied bouquet using a classic spiral technique. Picking the flowers for my bouquet was my favourite part – I felt like a kid in a sweet shop! Before, I would have grabbed as many big, bright blooms as
I could carry, but Marie taught me the rules for a balanced bouquet, which is a few ‘leading ladies’ – these are the stars of the bouquet, the bigger, more dramatic flowers that have more interesting forms and fall out a bit – some ‘fillers’, which are smaller flowers in complementary colours to the leading ladies, and then far more foliage than I would have imagined. The biggest surprise for me was that you can add twigs to a bouquet – I’ve never thought of doing that.
For my bouquet, I picked roses, thistles, snapdragons and chrysanthemums as my leading ladies, heather and waxflowers as my fillers and then lots of beautiful foliage. I was nervous when it came to actually arranging the flowers, as you have to hold them in one hand and add in stems one by one, creating a spiral or wigwam shape, but with Marie’s help it came together beautifully.
Marie is a fantastic teacher – so patient and incredibly knowledgeable. As artists and business owners, we had a real connection, which was lovely.
I had a great sense of satisfaction when my bouquet was finished, and it brought me so much joy every time I walked past it in the house.
Working with natural materials in a creative way while surrounded by beautiful flowers was very therapeutic, and I’d recommend anyone to give it a go. I’ve discovered a new passion in floristry and I now feel a lot more confident to go out in my garden and pick the right flowers. It’s also informed what I’ll plant and grow this spring.
There’s so much more to learn, so I’ll definitely be back for more classes soon. My dream is to be able to put together a big 17th-century-style arrangement that I can paint and immortalise for ever. To book a workshop at The Ollie
& Ivy Flower School, buy a pre-made bouquet or commission Marie’s team for a bespoke arrangement, visit ollieandivyflowers.com. Joanne runs The Little Art School in Ayrshire: visit littleartschool.co.uk