CASCADING COOTAMUNDRA WATTLE

After last weekend in Sydney, I am back in Torquay. When I get further photos from Sogetsu Sydney's 65th anniversary I will present them or provide a link. 

This weekend's ikebana shows recent work of my Geelong and Melbourne students. 

Anne is now working her way through the second book of the Sogetsu curriculum. This exercise above is Slanting Variation No 3 in a suiban. The branch material may be Melaleuca armillaris, the pink flowers are Chrysanthemums.

Maree's exercise was to practise one of the fixing techniques in a spherical (Tsubo) vase. The form of this ikebana is, by coincidence, also Variation No 3. She has used Fig Ficus carica, branches with the leaves cut-off, and two white Chrysanthemums 

Jo's exercise was to make an "ikebana complementing an art work"; in this case, a piece of fabric printed with a design based on a painting by Claude Monet. Her suiban matched the blue of the fabric closely, and she floated three pink Geranium flowers on the water. The stem of tortuous willow salix responds to the branch lines on the fabric.

The senior students' exercise was to make an ikebana "inspired by music"

Helen said her ikebana was inspired by the idea of musical bells. She used stems of New Zealand Flax Phormium to represent rope from which the bell cups are 'supported'. Succulent rosettes and one geranium flower sit in the tops of the bell cups.

The inspiration for Christine's ikebana comes from the idea of the music of the sea. She placed three bivalve shells on the corner of her turquoise-glazed suiban and added Sea Holly Eryngium.

Ellie's ikebana was inspired by Arvo Pärt's music Spiegel im spiegel   In three narrow glass cylinders placed on a mirror, she has arranged small sections of Autumn Joy Hylotelephium Sedum pieces. This link is to YouTube and the music of Spiegel im Spiegel. 

Aileen's ikebana is more abstract visually representing the rhythms, flow and space in music.

Similarly, Eugenia's ikebana represents the swirling melody, movement, space and rhythm of music.

Marisha was also thinking of the flow of music, with the flowing lines of sound. Her materials are: Maple Acer branches, Aspidistra leaves, Match-stick Bromeliad and Bougainvillea flowers

Jacqueline was inspired with the notion of Water Music, as of course she mentioned Handel's Water Music. She set a single Water lily Nymphaeaceae bud on the rim of a clear glass dish with three small leaves floating on the water surface.

My own ikebana this week was actually made in early February. I have set some semi-prostrate Cootamundra Wattle Acacia baileyana, in a cascading arrangement with two pink roses as the floral focus. The narrow six-sided Japanese vessel has a Tenmoku glaze.

Greetings from Christopher
23rd March 2025

SYDNEY DEMONSTRATION AND WORKSHOPS

 

This week I am sending a brief blog post, having just arrived back from three days in Sydney where I was invited to present a public demonstration on Saturday and two workshops today.

This photo shows left to right; Hiroko Prado, Director of Sogetsu New South Wales,  me, and Margaret  Hall Treasurer of the NSW Branch.

The next photograph is of my demonstration examples from the workshops.  

In the morning an idea my colleague Aileen Duke, came up with for an online exhibition during the Covid lockdowns was the theme I used. It was to use man-made materials to create an ikebana, with an emphasis on translucence. I used plastic file covers, clear tubing, two glass vases and a small floret of Celosia.  

In a second example I used white and yellow tissue paper and Dried Aspidistra leaves.

In the second workshop I borrowed an idea from my colleague Akemi Suzuki who presented a workshop on the theme of using an "old object which has memories for you and make it fresh with an ikebana". In this instance I used an engraved wooden picture frame, two altered Gymea lily Doryanthes excelsa leaves and some Lisianthus Eustoma flowers.

Greetings from Christopher

16th March 2025
 

EXPRESSIONS OF SUMMER

In a recent Geelong class, Jo's exercise was to make a freestanding structure with bare branches. Then she had to re-position the structure with, or in, a vessel. Finally, she was required to add fresh materials. This is the "Two step approach" which requires the student to practise fixing techniques and makes them observe the materials closely.

Jo's branch material was a bit tricky to work with as it was heavy as well as being very dry and brittle. However, the task was completed when she created a focal point with three Oriental Lilies Lilium. 

I recently set my advanced students in both Geelong and Melbourne the task of making an ikebana on the theme: "Expressions of Summer". By not setting a Sogetsu curriculum exercise, my intention was to encourage the students to use their imagination. The exercise allowed for free interpretation of the theme.

Eugenia brought an unusual plant she found growing by the wayside. It has very weak, but rich-pink succulent stems and pale green leaves. It appeared to have been growing in a very shaded situation. My subsequent investigation suggests that it may be Basella alba. Because of the weakness of the stem, Eugenia borrowed a tallish celadon-glazed vase by Anne Geroe, so that the stems could trail. She then added two branches of Hawthorn Crataegus, with deep red berries.

Jacqueline's ikebana represented summer roses, with longed- for rain drops and a cooling breeze blowing. The materials are: roses, Gypsophylla and Dietes leaves.

Marisha imagined the heat of the Australian summer sun and the robust plants that have developed characteristics to survive the heat and low rainfall of summer. The materials are: Banksia prionotes with unidentified Eucalyptus branches.

  

Aileen brought a number of dried pieces of twisting vine which she interlocked to create a writhing mass. She then added some inflorescences of Pineapple lily Eucomis comosa. The original vessel she brought to class was too small, so she borrowed this vessel by Tom Cockram. 

After returning home, Aileen reworked the ikebana in two vessels from her own collection; thereby creating a more dramatic result.

In the garden at Torquay... 

 

 

... one of the two sedums plants has flourished. This may be a Sedum spectabile  cultivar called "Brilliant". If so, it is well named...

...as this close-up shows. 

About a week ago, I gathered some Dock weed from the creek because it had turned a quite rich pink on the side facing the sun. I did not have the time to arrange it immediately and was surprised yesterday to find that it had retained its colour.

I thought these two plants would make an interesting combination for my ikebana. I have arranged them in a triangular-shaped, tall black ceramic vessel that has openings on two sides. The materials hug the vessel, which has become a backdrop to them, thus helping to emphasise their colour.

Greetings from Christopher

8th March 2025
 

ASPIDISTRA LEAVES

On Friday afternoon I had some free time before going to a concert and had a walk around Johnstone Park in Geelong. In the bright afternoon sunlight I noticed that some of the large Brachychiton's were in flower.

These are tall trees with the flowers scattered along the branches. Often I first notice the flowers on the path.  I was pleased to be able to get these photographs with some ease as they were only a few metres above the ground.

This cluster of flowers is among the newly-formed seed pods from flowering earlier in the Spring.

In my Geelong class...

...Anne's exercise was a to make an Upright Variation No. 3 ikebana. In this variation the Shin line and its support, the Soe, are on opposite sides of the Hikae flower line.

Maree's exercise was to make a celebratory arrangement. The student is asked to take into account the circumstance of the celebration. She prepared this ikebana for a friend who was becoming engaged, who loves roses, and whose favourite colour is pink. She added Sea holly Eryngium to the central mass and joyously radiating lines of Maple Acer.

The senior students' exercise was to make an ikebana on the theme: "Expressions of summer".

Ellie placed a dried branch and added summery yellow flowers, including a small Sunflower and some colourful Hellichrysum flowers; yellow being a typical colour in an Australian summer.

Helen arranged dried bark, a large Cordyline infloresence and some Cotyledon orbiculata flowers. She wanted to represent the hot strong winds we have experienced recently, which brought down strips of bark from many of the Eucalyptus trees.

Christine used the last of her Summer Hydrangeas. The two bare dry branch lines represent the dryness of summer.

Maureen arranged twisting black-painted lines of vine and Plumed Cockscomb Celosia argentea. 

At the first meeting of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School this year, the theme was 'using Aspidistra leaves only'. Aileen Clarke, who presented the workshop, used the following quote from Sofu Teshigahara's Kadensho: 

"Try setting leaves. You can fake nice arrangements with flowers, but not with leaves. Leaves are the proof of a plant's dimensionality."

We were also invited to explore the material, and to try something we had not done previously.

 

I was interested to try to create an over-all sense of flowing movement that I had previously seen other ikebanists achieve. I have used six variegated leaves and tried to created a flowing movement to the right. I found the task surprisingly difficult (Sofu Teshigahara was quite right) and was running out of time at the end. With more time I would have liked to shorten the upward curving leaf on the far right side of the ikebana. 

I enjoyed the learning experience and was impressed with the strength and variety of ikebana that my colleagues created. Follow this link to Photos from the Aspidistra workshop.  

Greetings from Christopher
2nd March 2025

IKEBANA WITH ROSES

 

There have been some richly colourful sunsets recently which have been pleasant to enjoy as the season changes to late summer.

I caught this moment looking a Bird Rock on Jan Juc Beach just after the sun had set. The tide was low, leaving wet sand that reflected the evening sky.

Last Monday I had a chance to walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens - Melbourne, and made a point of visiting the Herbaceous Border. 

It is quite wonderful to see the display of abundance at this time of year when all the plants are flourishing.

The Herbaceous Border is situated in front of the Old Director's Residence. At the bottom of this photo is a mass of pink Sedum, probably "Autumn Joy".

Here is the small patch of "Autumn Joy" growing in our garden. The colour is a little richer, perhaps because it does not get full sun all day.

Last week I showed the ikebana of some students whom I had asked to make an Ikebana Variation No 3 from the Sogetsu  curriculum.  This example was completed by Aileen.

The second element of the task was then to use the same material and vessel to make a freestyle ikebana.

My own ikebana this week was made at the first meeting this year of Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter which was held on 10th February.

The guest speaker at the meeting was Dr. Jacinta Burke a rose specialist and Past President of the Rose Society of Victoria. As is customary, members were asked to make an ikebana on the theme of the meeting.

None of the roses in our garden were flowering so I bought some from the South Melbourne Market. I was delighted to find that they had a lovely fragrance. The roses may be "Earth Angel", bred by David Austin. I arranged three stems of Corky Elm to one side of a spherical vase and set two roses as a central focal point. The few rose leaves give a feeling of freshness to the ikebana.

The vase was made in Australia by the late Japanese ceramicist Shigeo Shiga who worked in Australia 1966 - 1979.

Here is a link to the Ikebana International Melbourne Instagram account, for other images from the meeting.

Greetings from Christopher
23rd February 2025

VARIATION NUMBER 3

This week marked the return to Ikebana activities for 2025. 

My Geelong students returned to class last Thursday. Jo's exercise was to make an ikebana using direct fixing. This means not using any mechanics to hold the materials in the desired position. It is particularly difficult when the branch is heavy and is prone to rotate or lean at a not-desired angle.

In this particular instance, Jo had brought two branches of fig with fruit attached. The two shorter branches on the left side are actually a single forking branch. It was heavier on one side and kept rotating until she learnt a new technique of placement that stabilised the branch. The second branch has been passed through the fork in the branch on the left side.

Anne's exercise was Variation No. 3, to be set in a suiban. This variation requires the shin and soe stems to be placed on either side of the hikae and all the materials to be set in the middle of the vessel.

Anne used mauve Zinnias in the centre of the ikebana. Her branch material was not identified.

Because it was the first class for the year I set the senior students the same Variation No. 3 task, as a practise exercise. However, after that exercise, they were then required to make a freestyle arrangement in the same vessel using only the material from the first exercise.

This example is step one of the exercise I had set. It was made by Ellie. She used two Roseberry branches and some yellow Zinnia flowers. 

 

For step two, her freestyle ikebana, Ellie took an abstract approach and disassembled the materials. She placed the flowers and leaves on one side of a length of the Roseberry stem and on the other side, scattered some of the berries, which had not yet turned red.

Unfortunately, I did not photograph all of the ikebana the students made in step one of the exercise. Below are the freestyle ikebana arrangement by the other students.

 

Maureen made a vertical arrangement with two branches of Cherry plum Prunus cerasifera, and Plumed cockscomb Celosia argentea, flowers.

Christine also took a partial disassembling and re-arranging approach, having taken the berries from her branches, but preserving the Hydrangea.

Helen's freestyle retained some of the form of Variation No 3. However, the proportions have been made smaller and the Cockscomb Celosia argentea var. cristata, have been placed to one side and across the vessel rather than toward the front.

*          *          *          *          *

In the garden the Hydrangeas have survived the few extremely hot days. However, they produced few flowers this year. I think this is because I pruned them rather hard this last winter.

The morning before one of the hot days I picked the only pink flower. Before I brought it inside I looked underneath to check for large spiders (none there!). I was startled when the sun came through the sepals and I noticed the beautiful pink of the pedicles (stems) of each individual flower. I thought I should take this photograph as it is not the angle from which we usually look at these wonderful flowers.

 

When I arranged the Hydrangea I added the only other one available, slightly smaller and pale green. To balance the mass of the flowers I added a leaf from the Strelitzia nicolai.

The Bizen-style vase is by the Australian ceramicist Ian Jones.

On Monday last week the first meeting for 2025 of Ikebana International Melbourne was held. Click on the link to the new 

II Melbourne website.

Greetings from Christopher

16th February 2025

LIFE IMITATES ART

Recently, Laurie and I attended a National Gallery of Victoria members' after hours viewing of the current Yayoi Kusama exhibition. It is an extraordinarily comprehensive survey of her life's work. There are examples of her creative expression from as early as 10 years old, through to the present. This overview of her creative output has been years in the making and is a great credit to the NGV, and especially to Wayne Crothers the Senior Curator, Asian Art.

I was particularly drawn to the examples of her 1960's Infinity Net paintings, which she started creating after moving to New York in the late 1950's. Above is a small detail from a very large painting. It seems to me that her preoccupation is about opening oneself to infinity and in the process losing the sense of self. An experience that occurs in deep meditation.

In the current exhibition are a number of 'Infinity rooms' that explore this idea, and indeed create the illusion of being suspended in an infinite space.

Here is Laurie floating among an infinity of coloured spheres dotted with points of light.

This is the best view I could manage of the room with the minimal inclusion of people. 

When we left the Gallery Laurie pointed out this unexpected rainbow effect sparkling on the surface of the Yarra River. It was caused by light from the setting sun being refracted through glass panels on the Queen St. bridge. An interesting example of life imitating art.

Two weeks ago I posted a photo of an ikebana I made using the yellowing stems of Umbrella Grass Cyperus alternifolius. I had cut quite a lot and saved the un-used stems, which this last week I used to create a new ikebana.

I arranged the Umbrella grass in a rough asymmetric fan. Some of the stems had become bright yellow so they are graduated from left to right to where one of them retains a mostly green colouring. To me it looks like a burst of joy with red at its heart. The red Nandina leaves are also dried. 

The tapering porcelain vase is by the Victorian ceramicist, Arnaud Barraud.

 

Greetings from Christopher

9th February 2025