June 5--subtle vs. flashy

Well, this is pretty interesting. Today I had an embarrassingly rich array of flowers to choose from, so I let my instincts rule. Created something subtle (with a pale apricot-ish snapdragon combined with a curvy wisteria vine used in previous arrangement and castor bean leaves (from seedlings thinned from the garden). Through camera lens, the subtle beauty of the colors was lost, so I added some brighter pink gaura and catchfly (Silene armeria).  Lesson 1 in how flashiness is more important through camera lens than it is through eyes. Then, just because I had them, I decided to create a second arrangement with more dramatic flowers. It included an orangish snapdragon, orange butterfly weed, castor bean leaves, morning glory leaves, grass seed heads, Blue Horizon ageratum, purple larkspur,  and yellow California poppies (California poppies seem to hold up better in arrangements than other annual poppies, including opium poppies). This second arrangement makes my first arrangement seem lackluster, but in truth, it's flashier but not prettier. Lesson 2 in the way cameras distort real perception.  I'm going to post both arrangements, and a detail from each.