{Courtesy of One Ms. Amy Merrick}
A birthday only lasts a day, but arrangements by Amy Merrick last forever. Ok, maybe only a few days, but the memory of them I will cherish in my wee brain for eternity. Dogwood and apple blossoms clandestinely gathered by Amy on the farm, ranunculus and sicknasty hellebore (which are STILL ALIVE, all these ten days later!) from The Ranunculus Guy (also in New Jersey, woot-woot), and urthing else from her local wholesalers in New York. All part of a massive birthday surprise, all admired, inhaled and petted by the guests, all lovingly, painstakingly packed in tissue paper and brown paper bags and driven back to Brooklyn in my lap. Waking up to a wee apartment crammed with birthday flowers is enough to make this old gal sing.
What I love about Amy's style is that she makes flowers look like paintings. Just look at these puppies. I imagine every time she finishes an arrangement a gang of 16th century Flemish still life painters are clapping their hands and raising their chalices of jenever up in Dutch heaven.
A birthday only lasts a day, but arrangements by Amy Merrick last forever. Ok, maybe only a few days, but the memory of them I will cherish in my wee brain for eternity. Dogwood and apple blossoms clandestinely gathered by Amy on the farm, ranunculus and sicknasty hellebore (which are STILL ALIVE, all these ten days later!) from The Ranunculus Guy (also in New Jersey, woot-woot), and urthing else from her local wholesalers in New York. All part of a massive birthday surprise, all admired, inhaled and petted by the guests, all lovingly, painstakingly packed in tissue paper and brown paper bags and driven back to Brooklyn in my lap. Waking up to a wee apartment crammed with birthday flowers is enough to make this old gal sing.
What I love about Amy's style is that she makes flowers look like paintings. Just look at these puppies. I imagine every time she finishes an arrangement a gang of 16th century Flemish still life painters are clapping their hands and raising their chalices of jenever up in Dutch heaven.
Happy Birthday to you, beautiful flowers.
ReplyDeleteWanted to let you know, finally got to Pappy and Harriet's this past weekend....about two years after originally reading about it on your blog. Saturday night, great band, great crowd, shockingly good food and 84 degrees on a moonless midnight. A great time, thanks for sharing.
What a lovely and pricesless gift. The shapes and colors are so striking, delicate and--dare I say it--humbling to behold.
ReplyDeletelovely flowers. :) and happy belated!
ReplyDeleteAmy truly is a flower arranging goddess - what a lucky girl you are to have one of her arrangements! ...what about pressing them to make them last forever for reals?
ReplyDeletexo
cortnie
That last sentence you wrote is magnificent in and of it's own. If I were Amy and someone wrote a sentence that smashing about me, I'd have it tattooed on my forehead. Put that in a book, girly.
ReplyDeletethat is EXACTLY what her arrangements are! wow, i'd never thought of it that way before. dang.
ReplyDeleteum, also, can i mention how jealous i am of those flowers?! woah. the colours, the textures, the (i'm sure delectable) scents... they are so YOU! :)
Very painterly indeed!
ReplyDeleteGirlfriend has a a GIFT. Love her work! You fancy, lady. :)
ReplyDeleteThose are gorgeous! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! xo
ReplyDeleteLILY! today i returned from a computer science midterm as one sad little art student. despite valiant studying, i guessed most of the exam and felt a bit dispirited. longing to engage in something ANYTHING creative and not more reviewing, i was dreading the rest of my afternoon when i saw a package on my coffee table. it was my long awaited kinfolk mag! i cracked it open right to your article and proceeded to indulge in a bit of a mental break. seeing peter's and your face (PETER! FACES! WHAT THE WHAT?!), reading your words-- it was just what i needed. if you can take on restoring a funky fiberglass scamp, i can take on humanistic psychology. after all, one of the study questions is about maslow's peak experiences, and big bang readers are familiar with those! my best to you and yours. happy birthday again!
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What beautiful flowers ! Very painterly indeed! I like it .
ReplyDeleteWhen I woke up this morning my first thought was 'i need to do some flower illustrations in purple, peach and green. And then I turned on my computer and saw this post! Quite weird... serendipity perhaps? Either way, thanks for the post! And a very belated happy birthday.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are wonderful, but it's the way you write about them that makes them look even more beautiful. Flemish painters in dutch heaven, uh? Yes, they're clapping their hands at those beautiful flowers.
ReplyDeleteGawd- that second to last shot- Prettiest of the pretty!!
ReplyDeleteThought of your blog- I just saw an advertisement on masterpiece for a new movie called the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Perhaps this is what the dame was filming when you saw her in India?
ReplyDeleteoff topic, but man, i love genever.
ReplyDeleteBelated: Happy birthday! These flowers beg to be painted! Gorgeous indeed!
ReplyDeleteamy is a magician, truly. and happy birthday (insert exclamation point here ... my excl pt key is broken)
ReplyDeleteBelated Happy Birthday! Hope there is a great year ahead for you:)
ReplyDeleteAmy's flowers are fab!
gorgeous lady...happy belated birthday.
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