The Story Behind My June Rose Image

Some of my images have a story behind them. So what is the story behind my June Rose image? Read on and find out.

The Story Behind My June Rose Image

As well as working on the occasional commission, I set myself my own personalized design challenges. None perhaps quite as daunting as the fact that I wanted to design a collection to honor my Mum. She has been such a support from when I won a scholarship to go to an independent school and had to scrape the money together for the uniform. To paying for my driving lessons when I became 17 as she was convinced I would have a job that gave me a company car. Not to mention having festooned the kitchen with banners and produced lots of celebratory goodies when I got home from my first driving test as she was convinced I would pass (I did!). This support has continued throughout my life to the present day. We have traveled all over the place together and eaten a lot of chocolate. Our activities have been on hold for since Covid but we still video every day.

Mum’ first two names are ‘June’ and ‘Rose’. That gave me my starting point, Mum was born in June and the rose is the birth flower for that month. So far so good! Now what?

Planning ‘June Rose’

Sat looking at a blank screen and the words ‘June’ and ‘rose’, I thought about what I wanted this collection to say about my Mum. For a while I was stumped on how to go forward, always frustrating for an artist. And then it hit me that the theme had to be love, as I love my Mum so much! That was like opening the flood gates

Used in color therapy, and in healing art, pink is used to symbolize and radiate unconditional love and understanding. Pink is also the color of self-love, acceptance of self, giving and receiving nurturing and compassion. Having chosen pink as the obvious main color I got on with the design process.

Creating ‘June Rose’

Taking Photographs Of Roses

I visited a local florist and bought a bunch of pink roses and one red rose to take home and play with. I chose a beautiful pale pink for the bunch of roses. The single red rose was to provide a contrast in the design I had in mind.

Driving Barnet Boy crazy in the process, I took several photographs of the roses. Eventually I produced one I was happy with and that I could work with.

Visiting My Digital Dark Room

Then came the fun part. As a specialist in photo art, I spend an enormous amount of time working in my digital dark room as I call my computer. I sit in my studio, with its wonderful views of Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy, with music playing and incense burning.

Working on the photograph I applied a number of textures and layers, working on softening the image and providing an overall soft pink tone.  I have mentioned in my blog before, that once I have an idea in my head of what something will look like, I spend time working and reworking until I achieve that look.

Eventually, after a few hours I sat back and smiled. The image I was looking at made me think of how I feel about my Mum. My objective was achieved!

The June Rose Collection

Having created the image, the next part was designing the overall collection based on the image. The collection is called ‘June Rose’ of course! I then surprised my Mum by sending her a kimono created with the image. Since then she has received a mug and a face mask featuring the design. Luckily, she loves it – wouldn’t everyone like a collection designed just for them?

You can buy my June Rose Image at Pictorem (fine art prints with free shipping in North America) and RedBubble (available on 91 products with worldwide shipping).

Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!