by Daniela Sirotti

My journey and love for art started a long time ago when as a little girl I used to save up color pencils because I thought that they were too beautiful to use. So I saved them as my most precious possession, looked at them every now and then, and therefore deprived myself of the joy of art. To this day opening a box of new color pencils, admiring the rainbow of tints, the perfect shapes, and breathing in the unique scent of wood and colors brings a special feeling of happiness to my heart.

This journey started with the help of three other women. We each set out to explore our individual paths with the help of the essences.

Soon after I started to use flower essences, my desire to draw came back. Often I would get the urge to pick up my color pencils and draw. So I would select a few colors, and let them be my guides...

This first drawing (Figure 1) was done on a plane, and as I look back at it I see in it some of the constraints of the past represented by the what looks like a brick structure or a dark colored grid and a glimpse of hope represented by the floating bubbles escaping from under the weight of the bricks. During this time I took a mix of Arnica, Echinacea, Alpine Lily, Pomegranate and Hibiscus. I also used the Arnica Aleve oil. I believe these essences helped me release a great deal of past trauma held in my body. About three weeks after taking this mix I drew the second picture (Figure 2). The theme is the same in this picture, but the intensity of the yellow and red colors and the presence of the small heart are to me significant and a tangible proof that the essences were working.

After about six weeks of the first set of essences it was time to move on. My second set included the following two new essences, Golden Ear Drops and Dogwood with Hibiscus and Alpine Lily from the previous set. (Figure 3) is what manifested during that time. The size of this drawing is much larger than the previous drawing, and I feel that the intensity of the colors and free form has replaced the “prison like” feeling of the previous ones.

During this second set, life events took me back to Italy, my country of origin, to visit my family. In my suitcase, I packed Sunflower, Cayenne, Blackberry, Walnut and Chamomile. I did not do any drawing while in Italy but (Figure 4) was done a little before my trip. This is perhaps my least favorite, but I had to center myself around the flowers and in my journey.

My final drawing is below. I had been taking Self-Heal and Sunflower. I now and then feel the need to reduce the amount of essences to just one or two. Sunflower is my absolute favorite of all the ones that I have tried thus far and I also like the solid support that I get from Self-Heal. These two essences are my “basic combo.” (Figure 5) is probably my favorite. I think it captures the sense of freedom that I feel these days. It is the largest in size and the one that has the most intense colors and most importantly, a heart which is free of bricks and restrictions. It was not until I had completed this picture that I was able to see the connections between this and all the other drawings. In a way, I had to end this cycle to be able to see the patterns that linked one image to the other.

For some of us, the journey with flower essences is accompanied by dreams, for others by writing, for me it is ART with color pencils. It is through this pure medium and these simple compositions that the flower essences speak to me.

About Daniela Sirotti

Daniela Sirotti was born and raised in Italy and currently resides in New York City with her husband. She holds a Masters in Computer Science and is also a certified special education teacher in the Italian elementary school system. Daniela likes to blend interests from diverse fields, i.e. special education with technology, art with flower essences, and she strongly believes that just like the field of technology has not been fully utilized to support children with special needs, similarly the flower essence field has yet to blossom to its full far reaching potential because it has not yet been properly recognized by the more traditional therapeutic communities. She works full time in the telecommunication industry and part time with flower essences. She loves nature, knitting and art, and is particularly interested in continuing to explore the impact of flower essences on the creative process. Daniela can be reached via email at floweressenceny@verizon.net.