Pretty in Pinky Hydrangeas

When the weather plays nice, visits to my mom’s place means hanging out in her garden, two mugs of coffee, and chit chat about life. Her garden is her thing — the thing she looks forward to all winter, the thing that gets her outside the second it’s warm enough. I’ve come to look forward to it too.

She’s also a frequent, if unofficial, creative consultant. Whenever a new Spoonflower challenge comes up, we chat and she usually has an opinion on what I should draw. I’ll be honest: I don’t always take her advice. But this time, when the hydrangea challenge came around, she pointed at her Pinky Winky — the one with the cone-shaped blooms in creamy white and vibrant pink — and said “Do that one”.

So I snapped a couple shots and started thinking about how I might go about drawing it, and then transforming it into a pattern.

The result is “Pretty in Pinky”, an homage to Mom and her garden. Two hydrangea varieties anchor the design: a full, rounded mophead bloom alongside those Pinky Winky panicles that gave the piece its name, in full bloom right now. The photos included are the snaps I took in her yard, and they’re the actual reference for the piece. Bee balm, visible in the background of those same photos, felt like a perfect counterpoint to include in my design.

A few hummingbirds buzz around the blooms — also Mom’s idea — thanks, Mom! Pink bows tie the whole composition together, and Celtic knotwork twists are a nod to Art Nouveau. The whole thing ended up somewhere between a William Morris print and an English tea party — which is a pretty good description of an afternoon at Mom’s despite the Midwestern location.

“Pretty in Pinky” is my entry for Spoonflower’s hydrangea design challenge. I’m also working on a full collection with alternate colorway selections and coordinating prints.

I’ll admit it. Sometimes — sometimes — Mom knows best.