Dried flowers

Over Winter I have been learning to create with dried flowers and foliage, making half wreaths and small bracelets. It is a slow and rewarding process of selecting from nature’s beauty and weaving it together to create a little homage to the extraordinary abundance of life growing around us. The small details of dried flowers and plants are fascinating. The process of making these is a lovely way to reconnect with nature when the weather outside is cooler. These creations are completely compostable as I use natural bases such as grapevine and birch, and jute twine.

Garden Posies

This summer I had the opportunity to make beautiful posies with summer flowers and foliage from a South Island garden. These are my favourite type of posy to make, as they are a seasonal reflection of a garden in bloom at the peak of summertime and the flowers are spray-free.

Technically these are more challenging than using cut flowers from the markets as the stems are shorter and everything is wilder! But I find the flowers are more fragrant and the posies are a glorious mix of nature’s bounty.

Floristry

Hi everyone,

I have completed my Floristry Certificate! Studying full time during a pandemic was a challenging experience but it was good to have the support of experienced tutors and to be learning with other people who also love flowers. Learning new skills and deepening my knowledge of flowers and foliage has already had an impact on my work as a fine artist. It will be interesting to see how the two cross-fertilise in my creative work. Since completing my certificate I have continued to develop my floristry skills. You might spot me in this video made by Manukau Institute of Technology about their Floristry course!

Corokia Studio is relaunching offering artworks and florals. For special projects, editorial and commissions please contact me via email corokiastudio@gmail.com with details about your project.

Aroha and thanks, Celeste

Fragrant Garden

I have a new fine art print in the Corokia Felt shop, it is called Fragrant Garden and was made in spring with small scented plants from the Sensory Garden in Auckland Domain. Nature printing with fragrant plants is one of my favourite ways of making art.

I hope you like this softly coloured seasonal artwork!

Lilac Garden

Lilac Garden is available as an A4 size fine art print from the Corokia Felt shop. Made with scented plants from the Sensory Garden in Auckland Domain, this painting in pale lilac, indigo and green is devoted to the soothing and calming properties of fragrant plants and flowers.

The prints I’m selling on Felt are open edition giclee digital fine art prints on 210gsm acid free matte art paper. They can be popped into a standard A4 frame (I use A4 frames from Factory Frames and the Warehouse for the photography) or take it along to your local framer for something special.

Fine Art Prints

The Corokia Felt NZ shop has reopened with a new range of colourful botanical fine art prints! Pictured here is a detail of the Blue Fern print. I’m really pleased with how the new art prints have turned out, the details and colours look really lovely.

Blue Fern was made with ferns, fennel, wisteria and spearmint from my garden in soothing blue tones with touches of green and white.

These are good quality open edition giclee digital fine art prints on 210gsm acid free matte art paper. I’ll add some more to the shop over the coming weeks.

You can purchase these prints from the Corokia shop on Felt NZ.

Winter Herbal artwork on BioCups

This is exciting, my Winter Herbal artwork currently features on BioCups which are compostable, sustainable and made from plants! Available from BioPak in Australia. They look great and are better for the planet than conventional plastic packaging.

Please tag any you find around in cafes or supermarkets with #biocupartseries

Autumn

Artwork made with rose and hydrangea flowers and leaves by Celeste Sterling, 2019. (detail)

Corokia Studio is on a break for a while longer while I work on some new leafy artworks and other projects. I have been researching and creating some interesting fine art over Summer and Autumn. If you would like to see more of my artwork and learn more about the nature printing process I have just published my artist blog for autumn, it is online at www.celeste.nz

Please have a read and leave a comment if you wish. Thanks!

 

Corokia Studio online

The Corokia Studio Etsy, Society6 and Felt shops are taking a break for a while, Corokia is getting a refresh and they will be back soon! If there is anything in the meantime that you would like from them please get in touch by emailing to corokiastudio@gmail.com

Thanks, Celeste