Flora of Winter 2024 – Autumn 2026

The art I have created over the past few years is a snapshot in time of seasonal plants in my garden and my local area, with some sourced from further afield. Gradually I’ve built up a portrait of flora in bloom, as the garden has matured and new plants have been found and added. Over the past two years I have begun growing flowers from seed, expanding the possibilities of the small permaculture garden which I cultivate and learning through trial and error what will grow in changing conditions.

With time very precious, to continue both the artwork and writing I have moved most of my posting to my Patreon site and have continued to offer seasonal artwork to my monthly Patreon subscribers who help support this long term art project. In that digital space the art is slowly expanding and there are seasonal artworks available to all. In this blog I will include a few highlights from the past seasons. If you would like to learn more about these artworks, the creative process, bits of life history which feed into them and to receive an artwork each month (as a high resolution digital download) then please consider joining my Patreon community. Artist spaces are often a bit different from the outside world and this one is mostly a realm of art and flowers.

Winter is generally a quiet time in the plant world, but there are a few plants which thrive in the colder season. Protea had been on my wish list for a long time and in Winter 2024 I had the opportunity to create some artworks with these unique blooms which thrive in the Winter months. The Protea and Blue Feather artwork (above) also included winter flowering Cyclamen, deep burgundy Magnolia petals from a street tree and the first Viburnum blossoms. I often include textiles in my scanned artworks – in this case patterned plum Velvet. Every textile carries a story and history which add another layer to the artwork.

In recent artworks I have explored traditional cottage garden flowers, including old varieties and newer hybrids. In early Spring I grow Poppies, Aquilegia, Pincushion flowers and Geraniums. In this artwork (detail above) Aquilegia are paired with Mystery Sky Petunias and Rose Geraniums. Retaining heritage varieties has become increasingly important to preserve biodiversity, a theme I am continuing to research and to put into practice in my own small backyard.

The contrasts between heritage varieties and hybrids are everywhere in my artworks, mirroring the contradictions of globalisation in comparison with locally bred or endemic species. Hybrid flowers developed for floristry have also featured in my artwork. In Summer I grow tall and beautiful Dahlias and Zinnias which attract pollinators of all kinds. Entrancing collarette Dahlias make an appearance in late Summer and early Autumn. Study of floristry and delving into its history has influenced my art immensely. The choices people make in what to grow and the cultural meanings behind these plants is a rich source of ideas and creativity.

There is often a flower in each artwork which is the diva of the creation process, a focal flower which loves the limelight and plays a starring role. One of my favourites from last year was a Summer artwork created with a large Rudbeckia, Hydrangeas, Zinnia, Cornflowers, Shungiku (edible Chrysanthemum) and Fennel. Some flowers I return to over the years as they have special significance and symbolism – Lisianthus in Autumn are always a favourite. Some of the artworks are very personal whilst others are about wider concerns. There is space for many varieties of art and plants.

An artwork created exclusively for my Patreon subscribers included Zinnias, Dahlias and Matricaria flowers grown in a local small scale flower farm. In the past year I have started to share some more of the process of creating these small garden and flower portraits, transforming the raw scans into short stop motion animations. A couple of these have been created in support of retaining Art History as a secondary school subject here in Aotearoa, with postcards from art galleries and museums I have visited and an original artwork in each inspired by these sources. Visual literacy and an understanding of cultural history has been crucial to my development as an artist, a journey which started at school. It is my hope that the opportunity to learn Art History continues to be offered to secondary school students.

Environmental considerations and climate have been central to my art practice since 2009. In recent years this has led to artwork created with plants from my local urban market garden, a space that supports biodiversity and where people can learn about growing food locally. As food supply is increasingly impacted by climatic changes this work feels urgent. The Calendula artwork below is both a record of the biodiversity and beauty to be found in one garden and a tribute to those who create and tend to such spaces. 

My most recent artwork has included some Summer favourites including Delphiniums, Dahlias, Bellflowers, Nigella and Cornflowers. There is quiet abundance in these artworks full of Summer flowers. They are still life portraits of a world worth nurturing and preserving, where the flowers, foliage and ecosystems are the real treasure. 

Each year I create a special Christmas artwork for my Patrons. Last Christmas after much coaxing my Velvet Nymph Amaryllis bulbs finally bloomed. The huge blooms were the perfect ingredient for a Christmas artwork to thank my patrons for their ongoing support. Art and gardening are journeys which take an ocean of patience, time and persistence. They support each other and evolve at their own pace and according to natural rhythms. As I consider my future art projects and which gardens and ecosystems to work with, I always come back to the simple process of paying attention to the seasonal flora around me and starting with what is blooming.

Celeste Sterling, March 2026

Flora of Spring 2023 – Autumn 2024

Last Spring I concentrated on creating art through the warmer seasons and paused my artist blog over this time. It is now Winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and most of the flowers have gone quiet, except for those which favour the cooler weather. It is an appropriate time to slow down and reflect on the art created over the past months. 

One of my favourite artworks from Spring was created with a selection of Nasturtiums and Queen of Hearts Petunia. The intense orange, red and yellow of these flowers speaks of warmth and the return of the sun. In this artwork they also symbolise creative energy and protection. Small Parrot flowers, Feijoa blooms, Tropical Milkweed and Grapevine from my garden offer a glimpse of a supporting cast of diverse and interesting seasonal plants, flowering in harmony as Summer approaches.

Each month I choose seasonal flowers and foliage to create with. Some have been on my art wish list for some time, others are unexpected finds and gifts which turn out to be just right. There is always an element of chance as the seasons shift and availability of plants and flowers fluctuates. Working seasonally teaches me to be more responsive to what is going on in the plant world and to appreciate the incredible changes as each plant goes through its cycle of growth. 

In early Spring I created an artwork for my Patreon supporters with sweet and slender pink Tulips, Primrose and Pieris on a bed of pale blue silk. Old textiles and clothes are included with the flowers, and items from charity shops. The flowers and foliage are from many places; my garden, the corner store, local growers, nurseries and flower farmers. I try to source the plants from people and enterprises who practice sustainable agriculture, permaculture gardening and who follow the seasons. This is a way of working with nature which has been somewhat lost in recent history.

In 2021 I was searching for a way to create art that was not resource-hungry and which did not create waste. I began scanning plants and the floristry creations I was making, using an old broken printer and scanner, which would have otherwise gone to landfill. This method is intended as a repudiation of an unsustainable cycle of consumption. Our relationship with technology is questioned, the built in obsolescence challenged and the defunct object is instead turned into a creative wellspring. Slowly a body of artwork has emerged, a collection quite different from my previous painting and printmaking. It is a reflection on seasonality, flora and an exploration of the wider cultural associations each plant evokes. As the artworks have evolved they are also at times very personal, as objects and textiles imbued with memories have found their way into my studio and the artworks. 

For the first time in late 2023 I exhibited one of these scanned artworks, with other artists who have also participated in the Toipoto creative career development course. The theme was Green, Reflective. For this exhibition I created an artwork with a Seashell Cosmos flower, Adventurine gemstones and foliage from my garden. It is a small world unto itself, a quiet reflective space created in collaboration with nature and my garden. It was wonderful to exhibit with a talented group of artists. 

My garden often provides enough for the artworks, especially in Spring. Freesia, Michelia, Primrose, Buttercups, Corokia, Geraniums and Pittosporum flowers all jostle for attention, fragrant and colourful. The Freesias were a gift from family which have lasted many seasons now. In my writing each month I seek out traditional cultural associations for each flower, noting how meanings shift across cultures and time. Freesia are associated with trust, friendship and innocence. Fragrant flowers are always beautiful to work with, filling my small studio with their perfume.

I finished 2023 with a Summer artwork filled with flowers – Gazania and Pomegranate (detail above). Gazania are also known as Treasure flowers, endemic to South Africa and surrounding regions. The name Gazania is complex, deriving from a 15th century Greek scholar Theodorus Gaza. The word Gaza is Persian in origin, meaning treasure and riches. We hear much of Gaza, the original meaning obscured and adrift as conflict in the region increases.

The Pomegranate sits whole, nestled among the flowers – a complex symbol of abundance and beauty with multiple meanings across cultures and through history. The meanings do not always align, although traditionally Pomegranates have been a symbol of fertility.

“Is there any fruit as richly endowed with symbolic and therapeutic values as the pomegranate? Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism all turned the pomegranate into a symbol of mediation between life and death”. https://daily.jstor.org/the-paradoxical-pomegranate/

In the heat of Summer a bunch of Chamomile flowers provided inspiration for an artwork with a miniature teapot, an ode to the tea drinkers and this special therapeutic plant. The little teapot came from the Red Cross shop in Geraldine, South Island.

The rich and jewelled colours of Autumn have filled my artworks for the past few months. Autumn’s flowers are soft and romantic – Lisianthus in purple and antique rose tones, paired with Amethyst and gemstones. New varieties of Chrysanthemums also prompted a reappraisal of these popular and long lasting flowers. In the plant world, Autumn is full of interesting surprises and I always look forward to creating artwork in this season.

There are a few art projects which are ongoing. My local urban market garden, farmed sustainably with love and attention provides an interesting array of edible plants and flowers to create art with. This is a project which spans more than one season. Some projects take a long time, they are not the work of a few hours but a few years. Looking back over the Spring to Summer artwork, I feel there is more work to be done with Calendula, Marigold and some of the other edible flowers grown in this garden.

In another series of artworks, I am creating work about changes to ecology and the frightening consequences of the Anthropocene. The artwork above with Poppy petals (detail of an A4 size image) is one of these, created in response to the devastating fires in Lahaina, Maui and other parts of the world. 

To persist in creating art about climate, culture and ecosystems has been challenging over the past few years. In recent months I have shifted most of my writing to my Patreon page, as it offers a chance to explore themes in greater depth and to build a more sustainable way of supporting this work. For those of you unfamiliar with Patreon, it is an advertising free subscription service for creators, with varying levels of support for patrons to choose from. It offers audiences the chance to directly assist in the creative process. If you would like to learn more about the artworks I make and participate in their creation, then please consider subscribing. I create a seasonal artwork each month for my patrons, with a short break over Winter.

Patreon has also recently expanded their services, so now I am also able to offer some artworks as digital downloads in my Patreon shop which are available to everyone. Over the coming weeks I will add some new artworks.

As time allows I will continue writing this artist blog, with previews of the artwork created with plants and flowers over the seasons.

Celeste Sterling, Winter 2024

Camellias and Potpourri

A few years ago I created artworks with some of the Camellias growing in my backyard, nature printing leaves and flowers onto watercolour paper. It was the start of a long journey to create art and floristry with these tenacious and beautiful flowering trees. To add another Camellia to the selection of existing old trees I planted a new hybrid fragrant Camellia, with big scented blooms which burst forth every winter, defying the grey rainy days with a lovely scent and soft pale pink fluffy blooms. Like life, gardens are not static, they are evolving ecosystems. Successive gardeners add their own choice of plants to create a work in progress with nature, much like a collaborative artwork which is unfinished or open ended.

For my Patreon subscribers in June I created an artwork with some of the pink and red backyard Camellias, using scanned blooms, a pearl necklace and layered with the earlier nature printed paintings. The large, glossy and long lasting Camellia leaves are just as alluring as the flowers. Camellias are everywhere in my hometown. In my local streets they are popular garden shrubs and hedges, providing a huge display of flowers every winter. I have learnt to appreciate anew the many Camellia flowers one can come across on a winter walk. On a cold morning I start my day with a tea made from the leaves and leaf buds of Camellia sinensis, mixed with Bergamot orange to make Earl Grey tea – another type of Camellia to be thankful for. Plants like the tea plant have a very long history of cultivation in human history. Over winter I have been reading about garden archeology, learning more about the cultivation of plants for food and enjoyment in antiquity.

In floral symbolism Camellias are generally associated with love, affection and admiration, although like all flowers this can vary across cultures. In Japan, white Camellias are more likely to signify death and are used for funerals. The meanings shift according to the time and place, and I have been conscious of this multi-layered symbolism when creating artworks with Camellias.

A chance gift of a flower arrangement created for the opening of the Egypt exhibition at the Auckland Museum was the opportunity to experiment with golden orchids and Chrysanthemum, Lotus seedpods and Irises in a more structured composition. An arrangement created by someone else challenges me to create new and unusual combinations in my artworks which I might not otherwise have considered. The Lotus seedpods are fascinating, and hopefully I can find somewhere watery to plant some of the encased seeds in the future.

Last year I learnt how to make pot pourri and created an artwork in tandem with this ongoing floral exploration. I have continued with this project over winter, creating some more artworks with dried flowers, spices and seeds. In the artwork below, dried Freesias and Roses surround a small shell brooch which belonged to my grandmother. They rest on a brown coat she wore, which was also passed on to me and has been worn many times over the years. An artwork of fond recollections and small reminders of her presence.

In another artwork inspired by a pot pourri, an antique ceramic vase holds a collection of dried summer blooms including Delphinium, Rose, Chamomile, Lavender, Mint and Mountain Cornflower. Memories of summer in the south are there whenever the lid is open, the dried flowers and leaves scenting the room and reminding us of nature’s season of plenty as we wait patiently for the sun and flowers to return.

As winter shifts into spring, I created an artwork with Poppies and Violas to mark this transition for my Patreon subscribers. A silky pink Poppy takes the limelight, surrounded by Lilac Bronze and Red Blotch Violas. The first Poppies of spring are always welcome after the travails of Winter. 

With spring upon us I will be busy with blossoms and spring flowers for some time, and a return to painting is planned. As always, an element of chance will come into play over the next few weeks as I chose what part of this abundance to focus on in my artwork and how to best communicate using the language of flowers and plants.

Celeste Sterling, Winter 2023

A note about support: 

The images of the artworks in my blog are low resolution details of A4 size artworks. I offer high resolution artworks online via my Patreon page, where I post writing, photos, and create an artwork for my Patrons to download at the end of each month. Patreon is an advertising free subscription service for creators. It is a great way to directly support and nurture the sustainable creation of art.

I also offer A4 size fine art prints and take commissions. Flowers and small items included in the artwork can be a beautiful way to mark a special occasion or to remember someone. Please email me at corokiastudio@gmail.com for more information.

Autumn

Over the Autumn months I have continued creating a series of artworks which are part of a two year cycle of seasonal art with plants and flowers. These artworks are a hybrid of nature printed artworks and scanned foliage and flowers. Unlike many digital or photographic artworks, they are deliberately small and generally unsuited to larger scale reproduction. I like the idea of them being experienced as intimate artworks, small scenes featuring some of our most loved flowers and plants. It has been a labour of love and an evolving journey into the world of floristry and horticulture to create these small artworks. They are a record of the seasons as they currently occur here in Aotearoa and an exploration into the symbolism attributed to these plants through history and across cultures.

Still life has a long history in art and my recent artworks have drawn upon this rich thread. In addition to seasonal flowers and foliage I have been adding other treasures. In the case of the artwork above, an antique crystal cup. The textiles and objects add another layer of meaning and nuance. The crystal cup came from my local hospice store, a reminder of a time when crystal glassware was a popular wedding gift. Fragile and dazzling, crystal in this context symbolises a brilliant and enduring partnership, but also the need for care and protection. 

Working closely with plants and flowers teaches one to be very patient, as many of them are only in season for a relatively small amount of time each year. I have been wanting to create an artwork with Echinacea for some time and a lovely selection at my local garden centre this Autumn was the opportunity I had been waiting for. A beautiful variety called “Devotion” was the starting point for a couple of artworks with Echinacea flowers, an orange Hibiscus and Strawberry Blonde Marigolds. In terms of symbolism Echinacea and orange Hibiscus both have a strong association with healing, strength and stamina.

For years I have created artwork about climate and our environment. Sometimes these have been art for environmental organisations, or self-initiated projects whenever time allows.

Hoheria leaf skeletons, a dying Rata and the remains of a New Zealand Broom from the garden combine to create a sombre reflection of climatic impacts upon ecology in this artwork created during March on a day of climate strikes and protests. As Aotearoa deals with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle, floods and slips, the climate emergency demands our attention and needs to be considered in all our future decisions and actions. The Zinnia appears as a symbol of endurance and the young in this context.

At the flower market, a fabulous bunch of mixed Waterlilies was a lucky find and has resulted in a series of artworks devoted to these wonderful and ethereal blooms. Looking back over my Autumn artworks these are a special highlight of the season. The artwork with Pink and Blue Waterlilies (detail above) was for my Patreon subscribers.

There is an element of chance in every artwork, especially as some plants become more difficult to source. When possible I plant into my garden some special plants to create art and floristry with. Unlike the great artist-gardeners such as Monet or Cedric Morris, my garden is a very modest slice of suburbia and urban wilderness. After the warmest and wettest year on record for New Zealand, it has been a challenge to continue to cultivate it. Nonetheless it continues to inspire me and many of the artworks start there.

Some traditional floristry work creating corsages and buttonholes for ball attendees has prompted a series of romantic and gentle artworks with Roses and Orchids. One of these was created with Mother’s Day in mind, with a corsage and buttonhole included in the final artwork. Originally these wearable flowers were worn at the waist or pinned to the top of a dress for weddings and balls. In their modern incarnation they are designed as wrist corsages.

Some of these Autumnal artworks are available via my Patreon page or as A4 size fine art prints by emailing Corokia Studio (NZ only).

For my Patreon subscribers this month I created an artwork with Hyacinth, Pansy and Japanese Ivy. Each month I offer an A4 size artwork available as a high resolution digital download from my Patreon page and go deeper into the artistic process and creation of each artwork.

It has reached that time of year when my floristry tools are blunt, the studio needs a tidy up and Winter blooms are appearing. It is time to shift into Winter art and to take a pause when Matariki arrives. To complete the current cycle of seasonal artworks I am planning some Winter art next month with Camellias, Protea and other favourite plants.

Celeste Sterling

Autumn – Ngahuru (harvest) 2023

LOVE AND GRACE

This summer has been punctuated by extreme climatic events. The climate emergency deepens, and impacts all our lives. It becomes more personal and immediate. Art and life is precarious in this era of consequences. Art and the process of creating art can be very helpful for anyone who has experienced trauma, and hopefully I can share some of this creativity in ways that can help people.

The art which I have created over Summer is a continuation of my exploration into floral and plant symbolism, floristry traditions and our relationship with the natural world. For me this process offers a way to delve into the stuff of life and to convey thoughts, memories, and emotions that might otherwise be difficult to articulate. The flowers express both sorrow and happiness, loss and tenderness. 

When I consider our connection with the natural world, I am mindful that the flowers exist as a way for the plants to reproduce and continue living. Any art created with plant materials must be carefully done, and ideally will contribute to growth, restoration and regeneration. I plant more, take less, and work with locally grown, chemical free flowers and plants as much as I can.

One of the bright points of inspiration over the past three months have been visits to local permaculture gardens and meeting with their gardeners. Permaculture design is based on care of the earth and people, and it involves close observation and understanding of natural ecosystems. I find gardeners are very generous with both their plants and knowledge, and I have been gradually learning more about this type of ecological design. I am working on a series of small artworks about permaculture, growing food in home gardens and local community supported agriculture. As the cost of food increases and supply chains are disrupted by the climate crisis, this area becomes more pertinent and important.

Over summer I had the opportunity to explore an old floristry tradition, potpourri. When done the traditional way it is a slow process which requires drying flowers and herbs, adding spices and balancing the scents to create a harmonious collection of petals and fragrance. The result is a little time capsule of beautiful summer memories. A book written by American perfumer Mandy Aftel, “Fragrant,” has helped me understand the history of natural scent and how natural essences have been used over time to create perfumes. It will be interesting to make some more artworks with potpourri and natural fragrance as the starting point. 

I am very grateful to those who have brought my artworks into their homes. I have some signed art prints including this one (detail above) entitled “Love and Grace”, available in store at McAtamney Gallery in Geraldine, South Island. This artwork was created with beautiful Dahlias, Zinnias and Amaranth from my local flower grower, and Sweet William from an independent garden centre.

I am also continuing to offer artworks online via my Patreon page, where I post writing, photos, and create an artwork for my Patrons to download at the end of each month. Patreon is a subscription service for creators offering different levels of support, and thankfully it is advertising free. It is a great way to directly support artists and other creators. 

I’m looking forward to sharing some more of the Summer artwork as I complete it over the coming weeks.

Aroha, Celeste

Flower Symbolism

Spring came swiftly and with it a bounty of flowers. As each jewel-like bloom closes, another is bursting open. My art has been filled with them, tracing the arc of the season. Nature is full of surprises during this vibrant season of growth and regeneration. After the darkness and quiet of Winter comes light, activity and a glorious burst of colour, a manifestation of light and darkness in balance.

Over the past few years I have been learning about the language of flowers, the history and cultural associations of flowers commonly planted in gardens and those grown for the cut flower trade. Flower symbolism has been used extensively throughout history in artworks, sculptures and for more ephemeral creations such as floristry items. It is still employed in modern contexts – the beautiful seasonal funeral wreath created by florist Shane Connolly for the Queen’s funeral procession was full of floral symbolism, each element associated specifically with aspects of the Queen’s life.

This Spring I had a few special and meaningful flowers in mind to create art with. Poppies have been on my wish list for some time. Pictured above is a detail of an artwork I created with bright orange, yellow and red Poppies, Nandina foliage and dark Fuchsia leaves. Poppies have different associations depending on their colour – red poppies symbolise sacrifice and death, whereas orange poppies connote warmth, regeneration and energy.

Some of the first much-loved Spring flowers are Narcissus and Primrose. Narcissus come in many varieties and new hybrids are expanding the colours and forms of these favourite blooms. I created an artwork which included unusual double Daffodils with bright orange inner coronas and petals. I combined these with Primrose, an old European cottage garden flower with ancient pedigree and a wealth of symbolism, a flower of renewal and young love.

My Patreon supporters received a new artwork in October made with a very romantic and charming flower, the lovely Ranunculus. Also known as Persian Buttercup, they have delightfully thin ruffled petals and are sweetly coloured in confectionary tones. Despite their soft and fluttery appearance they are long-lasting as a cut flower and are unscented. In this artwork I combined them with a Cosmos flower from my garden and a very strongly scented pink Dianthus (Carnation) from my brother’s backyard. I’m always trying to create not just a balance of flowers and foliage, but a beautiful combination of scents, which is as much part of the creative process as the selection of the plants and flowers. I also like to think about this when creating a corsage, posy or other floristry item. The little spontaneous fragrant corsage pictured below was a combination of garden grown spray roses and carnations.

It wouldn’t be Spring without some gardening and garden visits. The search for flowers and art can take one to some interesting places. This Spring I visited the Sculptureum in Matakana which is where these sweet blossoms (below) are from. I found myself more drawn to the gardens than the artworks, possibly it was because the gardens were so full of new life and fragile new blossoms at the time.

A trip to a nursery south of Auckland was also fruitful. Puriri Lane specialises in cottage garden plants and cutting garden flowers. I had my first encounter with Ixia viridiflora, an endangered plant with pale blue flowers, endemic to South Africa. Perhaps I will be able to create an artwork one day with a few of these beautiful pale blue flowers. Working with endangered plants is obviously problematic, and the answer in my case is to attempt to source and grow some of these plants if I want to create art about and with them.

Puriri Lane was full of lovely treats, including the pink Larkspur and wonderfully bright pink Poppy I’ve included below. I returned home with a scented Rose Geranium, Amazing Grey Poppy and a Honeywort. The Honeywort has survived a barrage of inclement wet and stormy weather, rather remarkably for a plant from the Greek Islands, and is now flowering in the garden. Gardening in a climate crisis is new territory for everyone and the unpredictability means diversification is increasingly important to maintain any sort of garden. Climate chaos ultimately threatens all of our biosphere, both the cultivated and uncultivated places.

The most profound artworks I have seen this Spring have been an exhibition of Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera’s artwork at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. It is fascinating to see the plants and flowers of Mexico in Frida’s artwork and often, also in her hair. I have written more about these plant details in my Patreon posts this month, and also made a small digital artwork for November entitled “Frida on my mind,” with flowers from my garden. Orange Nasturtiums, endemic to Mexico, symbolise creativity.

In memory of a friend who passed away this Spring I have been working on a small artwork with bright orange Nasturtiums, yellow Strawflowers, Honeysuckle and deep burgundy Velvet Pelargoniums. Some of the plants used were the same as those in a small funeral corsage which I wore to his farewell. I think he would have liked the contrast between the bright flowers and deeper shades, light and dark.

As Summer approaches, I’m looking forward to creating some new artworks with seasonal flowers and foliage. I’m researching some floral traditions that stretch back centuries, and discovering ways to incorporate these into contemporary artworks. Floral symbolism is a fluid and evolving language, subtle and deep. A way to continue to communicate difficult things, when other lines of communication falter.

Celeste Sterling, Spring 2022

Photo by ArtsDiary at Aotearoa Art Fair. Taking a closer look at a painting by Michael McHugh, represented by Foenander Galleries.

Winter Art and Archeology

Hoki whakamuri, kia anga whakamua

Look to the past in order to forge the future

Interleaved through my art practice are strands of art history, archeology and floristry. The past is always present, contributing to the original artworks of each season. Art is not created in isolation from the world – it draws on our experiences, knowledge, skills and our community. I like to think of the community in this context as not just the people I share my life with, but also the plants growing all around us.

Over Winter I created artworks in a variety of media – from ephemeral objects with dried flowers and foliage, to digital artworks which borrow elements from past and present. The digital artwork above includes pale pink Camellias from my garden, Morning Glory vine and the fruit of the Lilly Pilly. Somehow art must knit together disparate elements and find ways to communicate and hearten. Generous soft pink Camellias can symbolise longing and one who is missed. Morning Glory flowers are associated with love, transience and death, as they only last a day. These blooms are bruised and fading, but the vine is resilient and will bloom again the next day.

It has been a tough and thorny Winter, as the combined effects of the pandemic and climatic events reverberate through the whenua and communities of Aotearoa. Through the Winter ills of the past months I found myself looking for the things which help in adversity – whether a small joy in the form of a freshly opened Winter bloom or a larger societal shift towards a different pathway for the future. Matariki, which is at Mid Winter and marks the Maori New Year, was observed as a public holiday for the first time this year. A special occasion for reflection and remembrance, it felt like a significant shift for Aotearoa.

Over Winter when the plant world is quieter I create with paint, pixels and dried foliage, learning new techniques and researching my next projects. My art studio is currently being packed up in preparation for some repairs and repainting, and I have been sorting through all sorts of interesting dried foliage and petals. Ideas for future artworks are often sparked by this process when older artworks and collections of materials are revisited. A collection of bracelets – poroporo, made entirely of birch, bindweed and dried flowers was started in the lockdown last year. This collection has slowly been growing and I hope to find somewhere to exhibit these small ephemeral objects as a group in the future. Pictured above is one of these little bracelets, made with dried Kowhai, Kawakawa and Akeake.

Ephemeral artwork asks lots of interesting questions – about where the materials come from, what the materials used to make the artwork are, and what is the impact on the earth’s environment of this type of creativity? These types of artworks also challenge us to think about what art is, how the artwork is valued, how long should it last, how it is recorded and shared, and what happens to it after it is no longer needed.

It has been a pleasure to participate in this year’s Estuary Art and Ecology Art Awards, held at Malcolm Smith Gallery in Uxbridge. In this exhibition artists are “…invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki estuary – to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway, and to encourage action against its pollution.” https://uxbridge.org.nz/event-category/current-gallery-exhibitions/

To celebrate the ecosystem of the Tāmaki Estuary I created a garland of foraged foliage, feathers and seagrass from the riverbank. The Tūpare – Garland was filled with Mānawa (Mangroves), Oioi (Rushes), Ureure (Sampire), Karepō (Seagrass), Pōhutukawa foliage, Akeake, Harakeke, and the dune plant Saltbush (Atriplex australasica). Included were feathers found on the shoreline. After the exhibition the garland is to be returned to the riverbank and will become part of the ecosystem life cycle once again. 

Over the years of making art about this urban river I have learned much about the river ecosystem, gaining knowledge and appreciation for the tough and salt tolerant coastal and river plants, unconventionally beautiful and often undervalued and overlooked. Some of the parts of our natural world, such as seagrass meadows, are only just beginning to be understood. They are an important part of the blue carbon cycle but are threatened by pollution and the climate crisis.

Over the past year I have been creating experimental digital artworks, combining my nature printed paintings with scans of fresh foliage, flowers and floristry items. I took the opportunity to make a digital artwork with the Tāmaki Estuary Tūpare – Garland before I dried it, combining multiple scans of the garland with a nature printed painting of Mānawa – Mangroves from the river. It would be interesting to exhibit some of these artworks in a gallery space or perhaps in an immersive space designed specifically for digital artworks.

Winter is ball season, and for many students this event is a celebration of the final year in their high school. It is rather special to create corsages and boutonnières for ball season and to see how they can complete an outfit and enhance an evening. To acknowledge this rite of passage, especially after two years of pandemic disruption, I created an artwork with a Carnation, Rose and Lily of the Valley corsage and boutonnière, sprinkled with the first blossoms of Spring. Carnations – Dianthus have been used in garlands and wreaths since Antiquity. A corsage is a floral decoration or accessory traditionally pinned to a bodice or waist of a dress. In contemporary ball season they are generally constructed as wrist corsages, attached to a bracelet or tied with ribbon to the wrist. There is something very nostalgic and romantic about these old traditions and the way they mark significant milestones in life.

A highlight of Winter for me has been an exhibition of Ancient Greek artefacts from the British Museum, currently on show at Auckland Museum. My artwork and floristry is increasingly influenced by Ancient Greek and Roman depictions of floristry items including wreaths and garlands. Since participating with archeologists specialising in this area in an online presentation last year, I have grown more intrigued by these ancient traditions utilising plants. It is fascinating to explore how these can be rediscovered and reimagined in contemporary art and floristry practices. I’m struck by how powerful the symbolism and meaning attributed to floristry items was in Antiquity. These creations were more than just decorations. For example, simple circlets or horseshoe wreaths of olive leaves called kotinos were created for the winners of Olympic games in Ancient Greece as a sign of victory. Originally these olive branches were apparently cut from sacred wild olive trees in Olympia. Olive leaf crowns were also worn by brides in Ancient Greece, symbolising purity, peace and fertility. The depiction of a single olive branch persists in modern culture as a symbol of peace.

I found this exhibition to be a rich source of imagery and inspiration with many examples of plant inspired artworks, such as the Acorn necklace and perfumed oil flask decorated with flowers pictured below. In addition there were many images of gods and goddesses adorned with crowns of olive, laurel, oak and other leaves in the sculptures and ceramics.

Necklace with acorns and a female head. Terracotta, silver and gold. About 300-100 BCE. Found in Valencia, Spain.

Bath-oil flask, About 100 BCE. Found at Taranto, Puglia, Italy.

Below – Helen of Sparta, bewitched by Aphrodite & about to be abducted by Paris. Situla (bucket), Made in Campania, Italy about 350-340 BCE, attributed to the Parrish Painter.

Below – Dionysis teaching his son Oinopion the art of wine drinking. Amphora – wine jar, painted by Exekias, made in Athens, about 530 BCE. Found at Vulci, Lazio, Italy.

It is an unusual and exciting opportunity to view an exhibition of artefacts of this type in the Southern Hemisphere and the experience will no doubt have a lasting impact on my future art projects.

As Winter comes to an end and transitions into Spring it is uplifting to see blossoms and Magnolias blooming again in my garden and neighbourhood. I’m looking forward to creating some artworks with some of these delicate Spring blooms over the next month.

Aroha, Celeste

Small Troposphere painting, 2009. Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide: 387ppm.

Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide, July 2022: 419 ppm.

(“Parts per million” refers to the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million molecules of dry air.) https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/

Autumnal garlands

As late summer shifts into Autumn my artwork also changes, responding to the turning of the seasons. Seeds and berries are included and the palette moves to purple, red, orange and brown. It is a chance to revisit plants worked with last Autumn, and to include some new techniques and ideas in the artworks. Over the past weeks I have been creating garlands and learning more about their history. I have also continued researching the language of flowers, discovering the intriguing floral symbolism of Waterlilies, Dahlias and Camellias.

“The first day of autumn exhales with a berry-breath and all nature catches the scent. It is always the air that announces the change. It sharpens, cools and gently startles.”

The Nature of Autumn, (2016) Jim Crumley, p.12 .

The last Sunday in May this weekend celebrates Botanic Gardens in Australia and New Zealand. In Autumn a trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens is always a source of inspiration, and a complex colour scheme can start with one garden bed of flowering and seeding plants. Pictured below is flowering purple Basil, Zinnias, Statice and the last of the Cosmos in the Herb garden. All the colours and textures of my April artwork with a garden Dahlia and berries are present. Many visits over the years to Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and other locations have provided creative illumination and impetus for me. They are special places to visit at any time in the year, as plants are always changing and new discoveries can be found in any season.

For my Patreon subscribers in March I made a dewy and gentle artwork with a Waterlily, surrounded by flowers and foliage including Violas, Jacaranda, Fennel and Spearmint. To research this artwork I visited a water garden in South Auckland to see Waterlilies of many varieties in bloom – a fascinating glimpse of a captivating aquatic flower species. Nymphaea have an ancient lineage and are associated with peace, spirituality and rebirth.

Every year I make artworks about environment and climate. To mark Earth Day on April 22nd I created a digital artwork, combining nature printed plants with scanned foliage from my garden – Akeake, Corokia with yellow berries, Rata, Manuka and Kawakawa leaves. Even in a small garden there is room for an array of endemic plants which provide valuable food and shelter for fauna such as birds, insects and geckos. A garden can be a refuge and wild place if you are willing to let nature in. You can find me in the artist gallery on the Earth Day website, on the second page.

Creating artwork about coastal ecology is one part of my art practice which occupies the Autumn months. Each year I learn more about the endemic coastal plants of a local river, the Tāmaki Estuary, for artwork entered into the annual Estuary Art Awards at Uxbridge Arts & Culture in East Auckland. This year I have focussed on some unusual and lesser known plants, such as the Atriplex (pictured below) and Seagrasses which grow in the estuary. Atriplex is a particularly tough, salt resistant and dry tolerant dune plant with foliage and seeds which turn reddish in Autumn. Seagrasses are important in the marine ecosystem and their role as part of the larger blue carbon cycle, storing carbon and producing oxygen, is only just becoming recognised and understood.

As part of my research for this artwork and others in progress I have been learning more about Tūpare – Garlands. Garlands are an ancient art form and they carry many meanings. They are found across almost all cultures and are especially important in Asia and the Pacific. Learning to create garlands with an assortment of dried and fresh flowers and foliage has been a delight. I have written some more about this topic in my first May post for Patreon subscribers.

Some years ago I set out on a path to discover methods of making art that is environmentally responsible, and which also investigates ways to encourage connection with others and the changes we need to make to protect our biosphere and atmosphere. It is a journey that has led me to floristry, environmentalism, permaculture and other aspects of cultivation and interaction with the world of plants around us. I find myself drawn to the small seasonal plants we see every day but don’t always notice. A single flower can be a starting point in this journey, as flowers are so entwined with cultural traditions, memory, joy and healing.

As it has been difficult over the past years to exhibit and to attend art exhibitions, I have searched for new ways to create and to share my artworks with audiences. To make my artwork more accessible I have created a digital artwork with Tulips, Hawthorne and Jasmine, available as a high resolution download from this website. Payment is by donation of US$1, if you can do so. Not everyone can commit to a Patreon subscription, which is why if you love tulips and would like to have one of my art prints I am offering this special artwork online.

As Winter approaches I am completing some final Autumn artworks. A little artwork created with Magnolia leaves and Seed pods (detail below), is part of ongoing project working with seeds and seed pods. This project is inspired by the seed saving permaculture workshop I attended last year and by the important work being done by seed banks around the world to protect biodiversity. In this new artwork, large, twisting Honey Locust and Kowhai seed pods are combined with a Magnolia cone and the velvety copper undersides of dried Magnolia leaves. It is exciting to work with seeds and their variety of forms is fascinating. I plan to do some more artworks with seeds over the coming months and I look forward to sharing some of them in my next artist blog.

Celeste Sterling, Autumn 2022

“Autumn is the earth’s reviver and replenisher, the first day of Autumn is the new beginning of everything and the last day of Autumn is the beginning of next Spring. Autumn is the indispensable fulcrum of nature’s year.”

The Nature of Autumn, (2016) Jim Crumley, p.13 .

Golden Hour

During the golden hour, which in warmer months is just after sunrise or before the sun sets, the light is more diffused and reddish. This warm, soft and diffused light makes it the perfect time to photograph plants and flowers on warm summer evenings and mornings. My artwork and photography over the past weeks is full of the light of the golden hour.

In a sombre twist, the phrase is also used in emergency medicine to describe the critical time period after a serious injury when medical help can save a person’s life. The pandemic has stretched and stressed this capacity in the countries fortunate enough to have emergency medical care. Here in Aotearoa healthcare workers are now facing this terrible situation.

My seasonal February artwork for Patreon subscribers was created with Sunflowers, apricot coloured roses and nature printed seed heads. Sunflowers – sunyashniki are the national flower of Ukraine. They are also a symbol of peace and nuclear disarmament. Sadly there is no peace found as war comes again to Europe.

Many plans were altered and delayed by last year’s lengthy lockdowns. My Summer artwork was mostly made at home, with plants and small flowers from my garden, and occasionally some blooms from the flower markets. For my Patreon supporters the December nature printed artwork was a chorus of vivid flowers including bright Nasturtiums, blue Cornflowers and pink Geraniums. Symbolising creativity in this artwork are orange edible Nasturtiums, endemic to Central and South America.

After the strict lockdown of last year when travel was not possible, it felt really good to be able to see family in the South Island again over Summer. The change of scene provided inspiration and opportunities to learn more about the plants and gardens of a cooler region.

Cottage garden plants have had a revival over the course of the pandemic as more people have put energy into planting gardens and growing flowers at home. These lovely potted ice flowers and hedges of pink roses were just some of the many delights in the gardens of the small country town I visited.

My journey into the world of sustainable growing practices is continuing and I am creating new artworks which delve into this topic. Upon returning to Auckland I was fortunate to be able to make art with some stunning roses – a beautiful, fragrant bunch of orange and pink roses that were sustainably grown at Nourish Gardens, a small flower farm on Waiheke Island. For Valentine’s Day I gave my Patreon subscribers a soft and gentle Rose Dream artwork made with some of these intense orange roses and a nature printed painting. If you would like to become part of my patron community this artwork is available as a digital download here: https://www.patreon.com/celestesterling

What is Patreon?

Patreon is a subscription service for creators with subscriptions starting at US$1 per artwork. I generally make 10-12 artworks each year for my patrons and also give them a some extra art gifts to celebrate special occasions. Like many other creators who have found the offerings of the big social media companies an increasingly toxic space to participate in, I have searched for alternatives and consequently publish most of my writing and art on my Patreon page, in the pursuit of a more equitable, sustainable and fair way to create and share art.

For Christmas 2021 I gave my Patrons a special artwork created with a large and amazing red Peony, Feijoa blooms, and native Rata, as a thank you for their support over the last couple of years. It was wonderful to create an artwork with a Peony, one of the most generous of flowers.

One of the interesting things about the internet is how it can facilitate connections and research across a variety of specialist subjects. In 2021 I was invited to give a presentation about my artwork by archeologists at the University College Dublin, as part of the Antiquity and the Anthropocene: Ancient Materiality online event in December. If you would like to learn more about my art you can find me at 3.24 here: https://soundcloud.com/ucd-humanities/antiquity-anthropocene-ancient-materiality

Floristry techniques have helped me expand my art making to include ephemeral and ecological artworks. This summer I was finally able to complete an ephemeral artwork entitled Haratua (May), after it spent a much longer time exhibited at Uxbridge Arts & Culture than originally planned due to the lockdown. This artwork was created with endemic coastal plants from Tāmaki Estuary for the annual Estuary Art Awards. Haratua was always intended to be returned to the riverbank. On a bright morning this month I was able to return the artwork to the source.

Plans for March include artworks made with waterlilies, a project begun last year. Continuing with the theme of coastal and aquatic plants, another artwork about the Tāmaki Estuary is underway. I’m also working with seeds over the coming weeks, combining them with foliage and the odd feather.

My next artist blog will be in autumn.

Aroha, Celeste