Recap: Martha Stewart Wedding Party

I promised you a recap from Sunday's Martha Stewart Wedding Party event hosted at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, and I'm here to deliver.  What an amazing group of individuals at this show.  I don't know if the brides realized how lucky they were to be in the presence of so much talent....nevermind my booth area chock full of creativity.  Without further adieu, here's a lil photo album....

An overview of my setup.

All of my white chiavari chairs were provided by M & M Special Events.  The lovely runners were custom made by Mom!  She did a fabulous job on them.

Painting was on loan from Argentina Leyva (whom also had a booth at the show).  Flowers were created by Forget Me Knodt to match the painting perfectly!

I always love this painting and enjoy seeing how each florist interprets it.  Zen Botanicals did a terrific job!

I was blown away by this bouquet by Fragrant Design!

In action!

I pretended to copy this bouquet by Flowers by Stem, but really I just couldn't keep my eyes off of it!

Darcy Miller, editor in chief at Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, giving a bunch of eager brides advice.

Bonus for the day....Darcy and I re-connecting!  MSW mag editorial? Keep your fingers crossed!

After a long day of dazzling potential clients and friends, Mom and I deserved a cocktail.  Cheers to a successful day!

Secretly Painting

I'm gearing up for this weekend's Martha Stewart Wedding Party event.  Next week I'll post a recap with all of the generous individuals involved in making my booth beautiful (I have 4 different florists creating bouquets for me!).  In the meantime, go purchase your tickets before Sunday!

You may be wondering if I'm still actually painting since I haven't posted any updates lately and I've been galavanting around at events.  The thing is, I'm working on a surprise painting that I am unable to post about....a sweet 5 year anniversary gift.  So, the only way to catch this painting right now is to come to my painting events and see it in person.  Don't worry, once it's delivered in April, I will give a full rundown of it's process and the final outcome.  It is certainly springy!

I've also been withholding another painting I created that is completely outside my box for this exciting event....

In its second, consecutive year, FORM: ART + floral returns with a show unlike any other.  Friday, April 5th from 6-9pm, the Chicago Artists' Coalition will play host to FORM's newest show: CMYK.  Once again, pairing up artists and florists, you will see on view 10 pieces of black and white art matched to their corresponding floral arrangements in full color.  In addition, we have several food and beverage vendors that have joined us to make the evening one to remember.  The cherry on top is that this year we are making FORM a fundraiser with all proceeds going to benefit the CAC.  It will be an evening with good art, good food and drink for a good cause.

So, I created the above piece especially for the event.  As one of the organizers, I wanted to be involved as an artist, but let's be honest, my paintings don't come anywhere close to being simply black and white.  I wanted to make something a little different while still showing off my skill as a master of painting flowers.  I always love when I'm painting in something that just seems to pop out of the background and look almost 3-dimensional, so I decided to go with that idea for this piece.  The flowers and painting as a whole are suppose to look like they are slowly coming to life.

I'll be honest....I am very uncomfortable and self-conscious about this piece.  My bouquet paintings have a plan to them that I follow to a tee.  With this puppy, I took a different approach and painted what "felt right".  Ugh, I really don't like working that way and the unpredictability that comes with it...but I think it worked.  At least, I hope it worked.  What do you think about this piece?

If you love it, the good news is that you'll have a chance to win it!  We are hosting a raffle to win this piece in an effort to further raise funds for the CAC.  You'll have to come out to try your luck.  Personally, I'm most excited to see which florist I'm paired up with and what they create to compliment my painting....it's just asking to be next to some color!

Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine Color Issue

We've made it to another Friday!  What are you looking forward to the most this weekend?  Me, I just got my glossy new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine in the mail, and it is just begging me to dive in.  It's their annual color issue, and I couldn't help flip through it and drool as all this beautiful color jumped out at me.  If you didn't know this already, I like color.

I was blown away by the florals in this issue and naturally gravitated toward wanting to share every bit of inspiration with you.  It was tough, but I held back a bit.

 I mean, look at this!  Love the ribbon!  You can have the perfect set of flowers put together for a bouquet, but when your add a backdrop wrapping or ribbon that makes a statement, somehow the whole bouquet comes together in such a dynamic fashion.  Have you seen the trending bouquets with big bows and wide ribbon lately?  I'd love to see more of these end up in my lap.  Can you imagine this one above as a painting with the ribbon as a gorgeous sentiment to part of the theme of the wedding? You'll have to check out the mag to see all the other cute black and white striped elements.

Nature never ceases to amaze me with all of its complexities.  MSW did a whole section on the "marbled" look, and would you believe it that there are flowers that slightly take on this characteristic.  These rose boutonnieres are darling with their complimentary hand-marbled ribbons.

I've been in a Parisian mode lately, and when I saw this image, I was instantly transported.  You can almost smell the lemon verbena leaves wafting from this arrangement.  I want to be in this photo.

I love when I come across a familiar name in the pages of a magazine...it's like coming across an old friend.  Reenie Rose has already admired Bows and Arrows on "Bouquet a Day" on Facebook, but now they shine in the pages of MSW!  Though I've never met them before, I have long since thoroughly enjoyed their work and am so happy for the success of Adam and Alicia.

Finally, I thought this was so beautiful and perfectly stated that I rotated it and made it my desktop image.  Click on the image above to size your own version of a desktop background.  If you can't start your weekend off with flowers in hand, you might as well have them at your finger tips.

Click the link to buy tickets and for more information:

http://www.weddingpartychicago.com/

Since we're on a Martha Stewart kick, buy your tickets and mark your calendar for the Martha Stewart Wedding Party in Chicago.  I am so excited to be painting at this show next weekend and hope to meet a bunch of brides using the magazine for their bouquet inspiration.  The paintings will be stunning this season!!

Enjoy this first weekend of March and remember that spring is just around the corner.  Find some flowers to smell!

What's in a Name?

Some of you may have noticed the lack of paintings on here recently while others may have forgotten that I actually write a blog post every now and then.  In all honesty, I'm in painting limbo.  I have a couple of clients in the wings that I am waiting to receive images from so I can get the painting party started.  In the meantime, this lack of artistry has given me time to focus more on the business side of things.  You may have heard the rumor going around town that I am updating my website....I declare this one true (the one about me having a unicorn as pet is untrue...only a magical kitty).

Updating a website is hard work, even when you've hired someone to do it for you.  With the lack of mind-reading that goes on in this world, you find yourself really having to use your words carefully to express what you truly want expressed.  From all this expressing comes a lot of self reflection and business reminiscing when you see how far you've come from that first painting your neighbor hired you to do.  Mom and I got to talking about the early days and how this whole Reenie Rose thing came about.  Something I get asked a lot is how I came up with the name Reenie Rose.  Well, I thought Mom would like to do a little explaining on that one since I'm soooo busy being a business woman right now and really, it was her doing naming me Loreen and all.  Plus, I thought it would be nice for y'all to hear from her and not me...though I've already done a fair amount of blabbing in this post.

Well, here's mom:

_______________________________________________________

Oprah, Martha, Reenie Rose....

When you hear the name OPRAH your mind conjures up thoughts of success, favorite things, and riches. Just as the name MARTHA brings entrepreneurial thoughts of crafting, cooking and home decor. 

Reenie Rose is somewhat a combo of the two. She does have her favorite things and is an entrepreneur but her claim to fame is the joy she brings to clients through her art.

Reenie Rose was conceived by my daughter, Loreen Rose Hospodar, a self proclaimed flower child and art enthusiast at a very early age. As an infant she was thought to be nick named Lori after her aunt, for whom she was named. At age 3, however, her cousin, Lauren (Aunt Lori's daughter) couldn't pronounce Loreen so she called her Reenie. That Christmas Loreen declared that the name LORI on her Christmas stocking, was NOT her as she IS REENIE! As her dutiful mom and peacekeeper, I picked glittered letters off of her stocking and re-wrote history for my little girl, REENIE!

My budding young artist made me save her treasures of bags of birch tree bark, rocks, shells, and various non-usable trinkets in my basement because she could transform them into art some day, just like Martha. Who would have guessed that after years of dabbling in various art projects and majoring in art in college that this little artist would have her own business? 

REENIE ROSE was born and has grown to be many a bride's choice for bridal bouquet preservation. To see the joy and elation a Reenie Rose painting brings to the couple is reason enough to feel successful. As her "marketing mom" I feel unmeasurable pride with every blog post, magazine mention (Martha Stewart Summer 2012 page 178), tv appearance (190 North) and finished masterpiece my Reenie accomplishes. 

To look at an exquisite oil painting on canvas of expertly detailed flowers and to have someone recognize that THAT painting IS a REENIE ROSE is this woman's (and her little girl's) dream come true.

Yep, right up there with Oprah and Martha.......Reenie Rose......a girl can dream, right?

Team Reenie Rose

Let the Games Begin!

Time for another update on Maria and Alex's painting:

In other news, I finally received a coveted badge of honor from the queen herself.  Ok, so I'm not referring to the Queen of England and referencing the Olympics.  Nor am I referencing that Martha Stewart actually sent me a personal email with a jpeg in it.  Fine, some editor's assistant sent me the following badge to plaster all over my materials.  This is more than most wedding vendors have which allows me to inflate it to something bigger than royalty and games broadcast over the entire world.  My world just got a little more start-studded.