Peacock made of Butterfly Pea Flowers, Bottlebrush Leaves, Coconut Leaf sticks, Allamandas/Trumpet Flowers.

(Parrot made from butterfly Peas and Gerberas.)
Red Hong Yi decided to experiment with using just one material for an entire month, choosing fragile flowers for her medium. Inspired by the shape of each tiny petal and the notion that together they make up a full bloom, Yi decided that birds would be the perfect subject of her work. Treating each petal as a feather, she carefully assembles the pieces into bird shapes, varying color and flower to create more realistic birds.

The flowers that Yi uses are not always from your regular garden variety. Seeking out the perfect shapes and colors to illustrate each exotic bird she creates, the artist has sourced butterfly pea flowers, bottlebrush leaves, coconut leaf sticks, trumpet flowers and purple shamrocks. Aside from a florist’s dream list, she also uses recognizable flowers like gerbera daisies, chrysanthemums and even edible herbs like dill to flesh out her tableaus.

The gorgeous birds are meticulously assembled onto paper, then immortalized with a photograph that serves as the final piece of art. Her floral arrangements have included peacocks, parrots, dodos, flamingos, roosters and hornbills.