Fionne Tan

Fionne Tan Flower loving Story-Teller. Transcending all things Ethereal to Eternal.

Moving on to embrace RED in hot mid-summer                  red roses
29/07/2024

Moving on to embrace RED in hot mid-summer

red roses

The little things.                      flatlay of boutannaire buttonholes
29/07/2024

The little things.

flatlay of boutannaire buttonholes

Exploring new colours, textures and forms that I would never imagine myself choosing. Who knew that purple with dusty ye...
22/07/2024

Exploring new colours, textures and forms that I would never imagine myself choosing. Who knew that purple with dusty yellow in muted tones will turn out this good?

Celebrating nasturtiums in light. I had been eyeing them for weeks now, wondering if I will ever be able to make a bowl ...
20/07/2024

Celebrating nasturtiums in light. I had been eyeing them for weeks now, wondering if I will ever be able to make a bowl purely out of it (well, I did snuck a few pieces of heuchera in šŸ«¢).

a bowl of nasturtium flowers

A little red poppy moment.
19/07/2024

A little red poppy moment.

On a windowsill. Iā€™m not sure if I like it on the inside or outside more though.                        flower bowl arra...
17/07/2024

On a windowsill. Iā€™m not sure if I like it on the inside or outside more though.

flower bowl arrangement on a windowsill

Urn on a windowsill.                      flower urn arrangement windowsill
11/07/2024

Urn on a windowsill.

flower urn arrangement windowsill

The light hits differently at every corner, at different times of the day.                      a handed bouquet of Brit...
09/07/2024

The light hits differently at every corner, at different times of the day.

a handed bouquet of British flowers in vase

Windowsill with leftovers flowers                       ikebana inspired flower arrangement in a windowsill
03/07/2024

Windowsill with leftovers flowers

ikebana inspired flower arrangement in a windowsill

The little things I love šŸ«¶šŸ»
29/06/2024

The little things I love šŸ«¶šŸ»

This time round I resisted the urge to take it apart and let the urn age and dry up over time, taking time to observe ho...
26/06/2024

This time round I resisted the urge to take it apart and let the urn age and dry up over time, taking time to observe how it changes day by day. I even had to bear the stench (can anyone relate to this?) from the murky waters of the rotting stems.

This is what I had observed:
šŸŒ·: Nectaroscordum heads will close up when dried
šŸŒ¼: The curves of linaria, lupins and snapdragons changes and moves along the days; has it got to do with light?
šŸŒŗ: The arrangement ā€œmovesā€ and becomes looser and ā€œsee-throughā€ as days go by
šŸŒø: Foxgloves grow upwards with new flowers shooting out from the top. Call me ignorant but I didnā€™t know that. They are really lasting as well; I had some stalks that lasted for 3 weeks and counting. It might be my new favourite flower for now.
šŸ„€: Colours fade and the palette gets darker and darker

Quite surprising, I liked the shape of the urn better when itā€™s left to do its own things. Five days in, I raised my white flag and took it apart; and itā€™s quite a satisfaction taking them down.

Yesterday, I took Stubby for a long walk around the neighbourhood in the evening. The weather has gotten a lot hotter th...
25/06/2024

Yesterday, I took Stubby for a long walk around the neighbourhood in the evening. The weather has gotten a lot hotter this week. I observed and heard the sounds of children playing; people rushing back home after a day at work; neighbours tending to their plants on their patio; the occasional stop for a chat to familiar faces along the way. The smell of freshly cut grass with hot air from the afternoon sun emitting from the concrete paths, mixed in together with the cool evening breeze lingers on to me. Itā€™s a familiar feeling I had when I commute back home from work Singapore. It all felt very nostalgia and made me miss home a little more.

evening walks observations and nostalgic thoughts of hometown

She told me that she doesnā€™t like or appreciates flowers. But I secretly saw her to plopping them into a vase of water w...
19/06/2024

She told me that she doesnā€™t like or appreciates flowers. But I secretly saw her to plopping them into a vase of water when it was left on the table for a while with no water source. This made my heart full. Indeed, who doesnā€™t love flowers?

Our little boy turned TWO at the end of last month! I baked a strawberry cheesecake for him and created a small table sc...
13/06/2024

Our little boy turned TWO at the end of last month!

I baked a strawberry cheesecake for him and created a small table scape full of British flowers. This might be more of a treat for me though, as I got to play with all these leftover goodness from a workshop I helped out earlier the week. We got all his best friends to gather together and had a little birthday celebration for him.

Two years on, and Stubby still doesnā€™t like to play or be with other ā€œrealā€ dogs; thankfully he is neutral amongst them. I used to worry if there this is a behavioural issue or trauma that he had; but I think it might be that he is an extremely introverted dog (like me lol).

Thank you little Stubby for coming into our lives; you have given us so much joy and rewarded us so much more than we thought we can have. May there be many more flower parties in years to come!

With love, Mummy and Daddy

Stubbyā€™s Birthday Party incomingā€¦
13/06/2024

Stubbyā€™s Birthday Party incomingā€¦

Occasionally, I do love buying flowers for myself as the possibilities of what I can create with them are endless. With ...
03/06/2024

Occasionally, I do love buying flowers for myself as the possibilities of what I can create with them are endless. With no particular brief or look, I get inspired by anything around me and use the same flowers for a bouquet, before taking them apart into a bowl arrangement, another smaller bowl arrangement, with bits and pieces of vase arrangements dotted across the house; taking my time to observe all the small frilly bits that changes as time passes each day. No comparison, no judgment, no worrying about what others may think; just me and myself with what I liked.

Flowers from lovedayblooms (unable to tag) and foraged. Thank you for the beautiful flowers.

Beginnings: The excitement and thrill of not knowing what the outcome will be.
01/06/2024

Beginnings: The excitement and thrill of not knowing what the outcome will be.

May last year; when it wasnā€™t quite the time for many focal flowers to arrive yet. The start of the season where I began...
01/06/2024

May last year; when it wasnā€™t quite the time for many focal flowers to arrive yet. The start of the season where I began to observe what is around me other than the usual flowers you find in the markets. Also, I peculiarly fell in love with this gap of the season, with only having all the frothy little details I can play with. It just doesnā€™t get quite enough!

These were the words I jotted down as my after-thoughts for this; I felt ā€œvery heavy but at the same time light-heartedā€...
28/05/2024

These were the words I jotted down as my after-thoughts for this; I felt ā€œvery heavy but at the same time light-heartedā€, ā€œI wanted to cry but I canā€™tā€, and most importantly ā€œthis is not the most perfect thing but its the feelings that matters mostā€. I did a little reel on my inner thoughts of this creation some time ago if you would like to hear more. Fionne ###

Prior to creating anything I never knew how it will end up looking like. There is a mix of having both thrill and anxiet...
18/05/2024

Prior to creating anything I never knew how it will end up looking like. There is a mix of having both thrill and anxiety to it; excited of what I can possibly create, and worried of what injustice to the beautiful flowers I may do to them. Likewise, this wasnā€™t exactly what I had envisioned myself doing when I was picking the flowers. I was initially drawn to the dark purplish frilled tulip and Aquilegia, and had wanted to build a dark rich palette hue around it (I did at last - see my earlier post!). As I was getting down to work, only one out of the three tulips opened up to show its inner beauty whilst the other two were still in its closed green buds to fully show its colour. I did consider reflexing them, but it wonā€™t be as natural looking as I wanted them to be. At the same time, I was equally drawn to the peachy tone ranunculus and was having a little debate on how to bridge them up; I thought Iā€™ll find some answers in the foliage choice. But itā€™s spring now with tons of fresh greenery around me; I had difficulty finding the golden bronze rusty tone I was looking for (except for one which was a pleasant surprise find; if you can spot and guess which is it?), and ended up with tons of fresh greens. That said, Iā€™m always reminded that this ā€œchallengeā€ is exactly why I love working with British flowers; because I will never know what I can find and what I can do with it.

All this cannot be done without the beautiful flowers from , Clare from lovedayblooms (Iā€™m unable to tag her here) and bits and pieces that Iā€™ve found around me.

thought process of a spring bowl arrangement made up of British grown flowers

šŸ¦‹šŸ«¶šŸ»šŸ“·:
17/05/2024

šŸ¦‹šŸ«¶šŸ»

šŸ“·:

A bowl of sweet dried crinkled dead flowersā€¦ with love.
16/05/2024

A bowl of sweet dried crinkled dead flowersā€¦ with love.

Inspired by a piece of pilea peperomioides that Iā€™ve broke from the plants while I was repotting it; together with a pil...
14/05/2024

Inspired by a piece of pilea peperomioides that Iā€™ve broke from the plants while I was repotting it; together with a pile of rocks hoping all who are lost will find their way out eventually.

Flowers by and foraged

a simple arrangement made of British tulips and aquilegia and foliage

Although I recall the warm feeling of hers enclasping into mine, I didnā€™t had any chance to take a closer look at the ha...
03/05/2024

Although I recall the warm feeling of hers enclasping into mine, I didnā€™t had any chance to take a closer look at the hands of my grandma; that is until I took close shots of it and began to observe it in detail as I was editing them.

I see the beauty of her hands. They are the ones that held my hands tightly when I am down, carried me in her arms when I was young, cooked, cleaned and provided the best she can for me. And before I knew it, this precious hands of hers has aged. So much. But still so beautiful to me.

families elderly aged hands gifting and creating memories together with flowers and photography of my grandmother because she deserves it

The arrangement made with the flowers cut from my small outdoor patio. The stems were a little short, and a few of them ...
30/04/2024

The arrangement made with the flowers cut from my small outdoor patio. The stems were a little short, and a few of them were at the verge of its end; Itā€™s a little tricky getting them to hold in place working with a pin holder balanced on an uneven plastic bottle base that moves constantly (I didnā€™t stick it down). Because of the small collection of plants I have, the flowers were all flowering at different stages and I wasnā€™t certain if there will be a time where I can harvest them all to put it into an arrangement. Iā€™m glad I manage to make something out of it. Granted, not all were grown from seed by me; but there were a few plants that I thrifted at discounted price when it wasnā€™t looking at its best, and cared for it through the harsh winter. Especially the geums, I had thought there was no hope after it turned brown over winter; Iā€™m thankful that I held it out and didnā€™t bin it. Iā€™m beginning to understand why people found it such a joy to grow their own flowers; even if itā€™s a little bit here and there.

When I showed my husband what I was up to, he asked if I had already cut them or was it still in their pots. I guess I can say this is a successful garden inspired arrangement? Heeee x

Spring in a bouquet
30/04/2024

Spring in a bouquet

What I could do with just nine stems of anemones on hand.               dark and moody anemone ikebana inspired flowers
30/04/2024

What I could do with just nine stems of anemones on hand.

dark and moody anemone ikebana inspired flowers

At the edge of crumpling ā€¦ towards the end.                flower urn arrangement British tulips
30/04/2024

At the edge of crumpling ā€¦ towards the end.

flower urn arrangement British tulips

All cut in the early morning from my little outdoor patio. I think it will be a little bit of a stretch calling that spa...
30/04/2024

All cut in the early morning from my little outdoor patio. I think it will be a little bit of a stretch calling that space a garden. Although Iā€™m thankful it, the long narrow dimension made it less efficient for any growing to be done. It is fully made up of concrete slabs littered with cardboard boxes as pot bases; and Iā€™m in constant battle with strong high winds, direct afternoon sunlight, spider webs infestation, pigeon poo, soap water/cigarette butts, green algae, dead leaves and dust from the construction site next to us.

But Iā€™m going to try growing in some containers this year. Itā€™s hard, growing only with recyclables such as strawberry punnets, toilet rolls and egg cartons. So far, Iā€™ve lost most of my cosmos seedlings from the strong wind (my bad, I didnā€™t water them enough or held them down). But Iā€™m remaining hopeful for the phlox, nasturtiums and eschscholzia californica (please please grow!). And now itā€™s back to checking every hour or so to ensure that they donā€™t fly away from the wind, shifting it around from the direct sun, taking them out in the morning, and bringing them back in the evening, and figuring out the next step of knowing when they are ā€œbig enoughā€ to pot them up. Maybe I should include in a singing session. I have turned these ingredients into an arrangement, which Iā€™ll share in my next post.

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