The Rose Petals

The Journey Continues

After the warmth and nostalgia of my "Home Sweet Home" series, I found myself drawn back to the "classroom." I’ve been finding so much joy in a sequential creative process lately—it keeps my momentum high and allows one idea to naturally flow into the next. My latest exploration led me back to a tutorial from The Pink Lemonade Company, this time focusing on the intricate architecture of a rose.

Deconstructing the Bloom

There is something deeply satisfying about breaking a flower down to its core. The tutorial showed me how to deconstruct the petals into various color-blocked layers. This "skeleton" gave me the perfect map to layer in my signature digital collage elements. If you look closely at the petals, you’ll see the DNA of my style: snippets of vintage text, playful polka dots, and delicate patterns that transform a simple floral into something with history and texture.

Finding the Frame

The first piece in this set felt light and rhythmic, so I leaned into that by adding a hand-drawn border of white hearts using a specialized brush. It felt like a gentle embrace for the bloom. But as soon as that piece was finished, I knew the story wasn’t over.

I had recently seen a stunning, ornate border frame on another artist's work, and it was one of those "lightning bolt" moments. I immediately knew that a bold, Victorian-style frame was exactly what was needed to complete the second image. It transforms the rose from a garden flower into a curated piece of art, preserved in a vibrant, hot pink gallery of my own making.