The Arrangement
Recently I discovered a very sweet photograph of a Valentine flower arrangement my husband, and fellow artist Rod Jones gave me a couple of years ago.
I remembered taking the photograph because the spring flower arrangement was so breathtaking. The most captivating element of the arrangement were the tulips.
As I stared at them my imagination took over and suddenly they morphed into a group of girls at a social event, excited about their starring appearance on the dining table. They felt charming, important, and their beauty was not taken for granted.
The tulips exuded elegance and sophistication; without the influence of modern day social media. Sans pre-fabricated Instagram eyebrows, over-lined, lip injected pouty lips, accompanied by carefully blended, very un-natural “natural looking” face contouring to enhance the face shape.
The tulips had no need to consult a fashion stylist to create a signature look, they just naturally possessed style without effort.
As petite and delicate as they were, the tulips were not mere amuse-bouches of the moment, but a presence to be reckoned with. No duck-faced selfies, no hands on hips to look slimmer was necessary.
Posing with simplicity, directness and authenticity garnered all the attention.
The vivid reds of the tulips would defy any haute couture statement “The It” color of the season that a luxury fashion house could conjure. They were at the peak of vivacity with sturdy shapely stems, elegant darker edged green leaves that graduated to a delicate but flourishing pea green as they approached the stems. The red delicate petals were iridescent, silky and velvety to the touch.
I observed their presence and undeniable beauty and wondered why we as women are on a constant search for the unattainable “perfect beauty” that a simple flower naturally possesses. We as women possess this, but have to work hard to realize it. The tulips never compared themselves to one another. They magnified one another’s beauty like a symphony. Never a competition but more like a concert of universal sublime gloriousness.