{Denise’s Bridal Bouquet – original acrylic painting by Erica Eriksdotter}

“I cannot describe what this painting means to me! I love your work and I love flowers so my bridal bouquet was extra special to me and to have a painting of it which captures it so exactly and which I can look at forever is amazing. It’s a very special and personal gift which I will treasure forever.” D.H. of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

This painting was commissioned by a husband as a gift to his wife on their first wedding anniversary. He had contacted me earlier in the year as he knew how much his wife loved my work and didn’t want to miss this opportunity. The painting made it all the way from my studio outside of Washington DC to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then to Killarney, Ireland, where the couple celebrated their anniversary, without her having a clue. Such a great surprise!

But it wasn’t without a hitch that this painting arrived on time! I shipped it two weeks ahead of time with express mail. Ideally this means that it would arrive within 3-5 days. Unfortunately, it was stuck in U.K. Customs for almost a full week and it was only with a few hours spare that my client picked it up from his local post office. Whew! We were in constant contact via email, and I was on the phone with the US Postal Service a couple of times as well to track it down.

When realizing it may not arrive in time for the big reveal, my client and I came up with a pretty good back-up plan. Luckily he didn’t need it in the end. It’s definitely a good reminder to always count on customs delaying things and shipping at least 3-4 weeks out if possible.

It was so much fun painting this piece. It’s definitely a departure from the style I’ve done before and I really liked painting all these gorgeous fall colors as the leaves were beginning to fall outside my window. There were so many details to get lost in – just look at the glass beads! 🙂 What a treat for someone who loves details! The background color started off as a bolder yellow/orange but I quickly realized I needed something calmer to balance (and highlight) the bold colors and let them speak instead. My client let me pick completely and I think everyone was really happy with this beige in the end (which is still a mix of 3 different colors!).

Denise’s Bridal Bouquet measures 16×20 inches and is painted on a 1.5 inches deep gallery wrapped canvas. The background color spreads onto all sides. 

If you are thinking about giving yourself or someone else this special gift, check out the bridal bouquet section for more information or this short video that explains everything under 2 minutes.

xo,
e.