Still Life Study in Soft Pink

It's not often I get to play with still life compositions at home in my free time - mostly it's very focused under pressure for work so it was really freeing to just mess about - off-the-cuff moments like these can come together beautifully...if I do say so myself! Please excuse the recent radio silence, it's been a busy few weeks for shoots, school holidays and the blog is about to under-go a refurb. Quite a lot of plate juggling is going on here!I'd had it in mind to do some styling around soft pink and a clean palette of off-white, something natural and restful, you know? So last week I'd had a home shoot to work on and Thanda homeware very kindly loaned me some of their ceramics to style in the home owner's kitchen. I love the organic quality of these slightly wobbly bowls. They're hand thrown in South Africa made by ceramicists in townships and I was lucky enough to style these for their website last year. My local florist is also brilliant for finding some of the more obscure flowers and plants I manage to dig out from the depth of Pinterest and she managed to get hold of these Gossypium for me (cotton flower). Moral of the story? Make friends with your florist!I went with Petal Pink from the new Valspar Pantone collection, partly because the barely-there pink was just the right amount of subtle for me, and also because in my opinion Valspar kicks arse in the paint stakes. And I'm not even being paid to say that, it's just my opinion. Drawing from the sculptural shapes of the cotton flower, I brought in garlic heads and mushrooms to focus on their shapes and textures. What do you think? I really need to make more time for still life styling, it's actually really relaxing. Do you find your some of greatest ideas when you're able to play around more too?Ceramics - Thanda | Oatmeal Linen apron on table - Enrich & Endure | Paint - ValsparStyling & Photography © Tiffany Grant-Riley