Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Language of Flowers







The Victorian age was filled with delicate details. Lace, gloves, manners, societal expectations. When pursuing a love interest you were very careful not to overstep the invisible lines of "proper behavior." A variety of secret messages, love notes, were used to express the interest's true feelings. Through the language of flowers a young man could present his love with a bouquet and have her marvel at his feelings for her. In the movie Age of Innocence, Newland Archer sends his fiance a bouquet of Lily of the Valley. They expressed his love of her sweetness and humility. When he sent her cousin yellow roses they were a for friendship. You could probably get yourself in a load of a trouble if you sent your mother a bouquet of Sweet Peas.

Over the past year I've been slowly illustrating flowers that hold special significance to me and those that I love. These illustrations are the start of my collection. It's one of my creative outlets--so needed in my life right now. If you're curious, here is a great link to explore more of the language of flowers!

2 comments:

Callie Grayson said...

I too love the language of flowers, I try and plant new flowers every spring that have special sentiments to me

Hope you are well!
Xx
Callie

Cindy said...

i love the language of flowers and your illustrations are so perfect in silhouette form. xo, c