Justina Blakeney’s Garden Nymphs

I am so glad to be finally done with midyear exams and back into writing about all the beautiful things again, not the least because I have been busting to write about today’s subject for months now!

It may sound naff…okay, no…it’s going to sound completely naff…but I think I’ve found Mother Nature personified. Truly.

Justina Blakeney is a Los Angeles based designer, lifestyle blogger and self-described bohemian. She is also responsible for one of the most beautiful Instagram accounts I’ve ever had the pleasure of stumbling across.

Flowers, colours, candles, laughing babies, gardens, patterns, clouds…there’s not a dud image in there. And throughout it all, this…

Soulful eyes made of seedpods, pouty lips of bougainvillea, curling vines that become tendrils of hair, faces made entirely of flora that somehow capture the breadth of human emotions.

These quirky little characters jog memories from childhood, before I grew too old to believe fairies lived at the bottom of the garden. The fantasyland I loved as a little girl, where Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter and May Gibbs spun tales of grumpy banksia men, waistcoat wearing rabbits and singing foxgloves. And Norman Lindsay made me believe puddings really were magic. It’s a place I miss now I’m a responsible adult, and wish I could go back to every time life gets a bit too hard and serious. Remember when Wendy realised she had to grow up in Peter Pan?

“Children know such a lot now, they soon don’t believe in fairies”

Unlike Wendy though, who really quite liked the idea of growing up, I resisted for as long as I could. Why leave fantasyland when it was fun there? I suspect that’s why Justina Blakeney’s whimsical portraits appeal to me.They are the adult version of wood sprites from an enchanted forest, garden nymphs that no one is going to mock me for believing in. Which actually reminds of another quote from CS Lewis:

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.”

I think perhaps I’ve reached that age…

Check out Justina Blakeney’s blog here, or follow her on Instagram or Facebook if you  want to see more of her beautiful work.