Recent Floral Art Creations

The natural and the fantastical, all handmade by Floralsmith Valerie Holliday, in Pennsylvania, USA.
Latest creations are at top of this section, scroll down to go into the past...

Echinacea

An overflow of this amazing flower - vibrant hues, fuzzy textures and SO many varieties exist.

Hand-Tinted Bouquet

Unique and fortuitous colors and shaded effects, each petal is one-of-a-kind. Every petal started out as a white piece of paper. The light purple flower at lower left was my very first try at painting paper with alcohol ink.

Ranunculus Bouquet

A gift for a friend who loves purple.

Sunflowers

Zinnias

Italian crepe paper comes in a wide range of colors, truly amazing. Someday I hope to own them all!

Aka Bee Balm or Bergamot, as a kid I called it a "Firecracker Flower." I really like re-creating atypical flowers - no one expects a Monarda!

Monarda

A Rose is a Rose?

Commissioned gift for a retiring physician. An everlasting "thank you" that won't wilt away. Subdued colors from very diluted inks.

Pastel Small Flowers Bouquet

Peony, Ranunculus and Lily, in Pink and White

Another commission, a surprise retirement gift for Diana P., who wrote "Wow! Thank you so much for the bouquet...Val's flowers are beautiful, but that's an understatement. They actually capture the light and glow." Congratulations Diana, and thank you for that sweet review!

Subtle patterns emerge from the paper-tinting process. No two can ever be alike!

Poppies & Daisies

I saw a photo of garden flowers and had to try to recreate. Love the contrast of the white versus bright red and yellow!

Mixed Zinnias

Lots of snipping involvcd here! But so satisfying to put together.

Hand-Painted Colors

This fantasy flower bouquet began as white heavy crepe paper with colors mixed from alcohol inks. I can't seem to use the colors straight from the bottles, it is so much more interesting to combine & dilute.

And now for something completely different...

After weeks of bright colors, a more subdued mood. These shades came from ink brush rinse water and PGTips tea (decaf, of course)!

Reds and Oranges

It's a family joke that orange is my very LEAST favorite color. But adding red highlights might have changed my mind. White heavy crepe paper hand-painted with alcohol inks.

Roses & Babies' Breath

Tiny flowers are hard to do!

"Mother-of-Pearl" Poppies

These needed to look translucent, so I used the most delicate-looking white 60-gram crepe paper for the petals. The paper is actually quite strong - lots of folding, scrunching, twisting plus several painting & tinting episodes and here we are.

Clematis

A four-petalled variety in fuschia.

"Wild Swan" Anemone

A graceful flower.

The Blue Poppy

A rare variety seen recently at Longwood Gardens. It's not OK to pick one to take home! So much better to make my own.

Inspired by Sunflowers

Experimental fantasy flowers.

Wild Flowers

Really enjoying the out-of-control quality of these fantasy fleurz.

With Bells On

Sort of like foxglove. A first try at free-standing format. The sculptural nature of crepe paper lets me do all kinds of things.

Multi-Color Cosmos Bouquet

Unlikely to find this variety of size & color in a flower shop or garden, but it can be done with paper!

Peppermint Stripe Zinnia

Hand-painted paper and a little advance planning made this possible.

Diva Flower

A fantasy flower that just wants to be alone; won't let itself be put into a bouquet.

The commission was a classic sunflower. I added white Italian sunflowers for contrast. Created for the sunflower-loving graphic artist who designed Floralsmith's logo.