Flowers have always fascinated me. I am convinced that they hide a mysterious beauty, which I emphasize in dog portraits with flowers.
But at the same time, I always wonder why we give flowers as gifts. Whether it's for a graduation, Women's Day, or when someone we love passes away.
I try to give you an answer in this article.
“If you tend to a flower, it will bloom, no matter how many weeds surround it.”– Matshona Dhliwayo
The beauty of Flowers in a Pet portrait With flowers
Flowers are a thing of beauty. One of the reasons why we like flowers so much can be found, without any surprise, in our brain.
From their shape to their smell, from their colors to the way they make us feel... Flowers speak to us and, most of the time, we are not even aware of how we respond to them.
But first, we must clarify one thing: flowers did not evolve to be so attractive to satisfy the human eye. In other words, the reason why flowers are so attractive is to attract pollinators.. Bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, but also bats and birds.
We humans Are not The target Audience at all.
In fact, the beauty that flowers have in our eyes is nothing more than a side effect, a bonus to the real reason that has perfected their evolution over millennia.
However, there is a reason why we are so attracted to them if we consider them universally beautiful. Everything that makes them so special resonates somewhere within us, and that place is often our brain.
Read also: The symbolism of colors in pet portraits with flowers
The secrets Hidden in Flowers
The first Secret: Symmetry
The sight of flowers, full of color and purity, works wonders on our brain… Guess what kind of magic?
Our wonderful and very complicated brain releases serotonin, dopamine, and - again - oxytocin just at the sight of flowers in all their beauty!
That's why it is recommended to take a walk in nature when we are particularly stressed or nervous. It has a proven stimulating and relaxing effect.
The second Secret: Scent
What I think is the most interesting thing about flowers is how their scent makes you feel. When you smell something like roses or lavender, it's almost as if your brain goes crazy, and the same happens with many other flowers that emit a heavenly scent.
The scent activates the pleasure centers in your brain, which makes you want to smell a little more. The intoxicating scent of flowers, along with their appearance, can deeply influence how we feel.
Smell is one of the most powerful senses we have, and the simple act of smelling something good can make us feel good right away. But it's not just about creating positive feelings, even smell has a strong and evocative power.
“Flowers don’t tell, they show.”
It turns out that there are many ways in which flowers can connect to our brain and our memories.
The combination of memory and emotions is why memories triggered by smell seem so vivid.
Sometimes the smell of a dish catapults you back 20 years and suddenly you are in your grandmother's old kitchen, ready to taste one of her characteristic dishes!
Other times it is the smell of a flower that takes you back to a hike in the countryside you did more than ten years ago with your dearest friends.
Or the cologne of a passerby that is the same as your first love, whom you haven't seen in who knows how many years.
The nose does not forget and continues to weave new associations every day so that it can retrieve them whenever it needs them.
The third Secret: Emotions
Smell is often associated with emotional memories. When we smell something that reminds us of an emotional experience from the past, it reactivates those feelings.
In most cases, when it comes to flowers, apart from a specific experience that perhaps reminds us of an unpleasant or painful circumstance, the associations are mostly positive. Flowers are a powerful tool to bring your mind to the right place.
When you smell them, their scent stimulates areas of your brain that, in turn, create a positive response that makes you feel good and improves your ability to cope with stress. But the series of positive responses is not limited to feeling good, flowers can help with relaxation and anxiety management, can lift mood, increase energy levels, and improve your mood. Some of them have calming and comforting properties and, overall, can be useful when you are feeling a little under the weather.
The scent of flowers, especially those you love, triggers the production of abundant endorphins (which are natural painkillers) and dopamine (which gives you real waves of pleasure and makes you feel rewarded). In addition, there are other biological reactions that occur in your body: your heart rate will decrease and your muscles will relax.
Knowing this, we can use this information to our advantage: the flowers we choose to surround ourselves with can help us feel happier, more energetic, and more optimistic.
In fact, it is often you who ask me which flowers to draw in your dog portrait with flowers. and often you tell me that these flowers remind you of your puppy and make you feel good.
A dog Portrait with Flowers helps You overcome your Demons
Imagine being on a green hill, walking slowly on a beautiful spring day. In front of you, in the valley, you can admire an immense field of sunflowers.
What would your reaction be upon seeing this expanse of enchanting yellow flowers? Unless you're allergic (which I hope not), I'm sure the answer would be very similar to "Wow, how wonderful," accompanied by a sense of deep well-being that is difficult to imitate.
"Nothing is as precious to humanity as nature".
Even if we live indoors and wear shoes, our ideal and best condition remains to live as much as possible immersed in nature, our first true home.
Flowers and plants, in this sense, help us bring part of nature back into our modern life. Growing flowers in the garden, on the terrace, and keeping bouquets in a vase, at home, or in the office, is an invaluable help to cultivate positive emotions, creativity, and productivity.
If you have experienced a traumatic experience, if you are coming out of or trying to get out of a difficult time, do not underestimate the small joys that flowers can give you. Positive emotions often come from simple things and have the power to stimulate the courage to face our demons.
So let's try to gather around us all the positivity we can, even better if we can do it with the help of Mother Nature.
The power Of flowers in a Flowerpup custom Pet portraits
Summary of what flowers can do for us:
Flowers, specifically, can:
- decrease stress and anxiety
- make people happier
- ward off negative energies
- increase communication and bonding between people
- provide beneficial effects on the body
- create a sense of peace
- improve self-esteem
- increase productivity at work
- provide a sense of calm and tranquility
Read also: Positive emotions: why I use flowers in my personalized portraits
Pet loss Flowers: Remember your Puppy with a Flower
If I think of Argo, even today the first flower that reminds me of him is the sunflower. Every Flowerpup portrait of him has a flower inside.
But at the same time, I cultivate a row of sunflowers right in front of the door, a small ritual that has remained with me since he crossed the rainbow bridge.
Taking care of those sunflowers is like taking care of him.
“She sprouted love like flowers, grew a garden in her mind, and even on the darkest days, from her smile the sun still shined.”
I know how difficult it is to lose your puppy, but if there is something that helped me more than anything, it was those sunflowers.
That's why flowers are an integral part of my portraits: they really have the power to make the loss less painful, to make you feel better in moments of comfort.
So if there is a flower that reminds you of your puppy more than anything else, fill the house with those flowers and take care of them just as you would with your beloved pet who has crossed the rainbow bridge.
And maybe you can commission a portrait of him surrounded by those flowers.
Hug,
Helen
