On Thursday14th I was walking through the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens and these very late autumn leaves caught my eye. The day was very bright and sunny. However, the air was quite cool. These gardens are one of the great treasures of our capital city and were landscaped in the English style in the late 1800's. They are sufficiently large that I seem to notice something different every time I go into them.
The same tree close up and looking further to the left.
I was also struck how much more wintery Melbourne looks than home. I realised it is because of the large number of northern hemisphere trees planted there. Most of which are completely bare of leaves. This is not the case with the indigenous trees which predominate in the coastal landscape.
Although I have reduced my work to three days a week I still find I am quite busy. People who retire often say they don't know how they previously had time to go to work. This is a little bit worrying. I find it hard to imagine being busier.
I attended a class with my teacher Mrs Elizabeth Angell on Wednesday. The subject for the class, as indicated in this weeks title, was an arrangement using dried leaves. After thinking about the exercise I remembered I had some dried aspidistra leaves. I thought I could thread them through two frame-works I had made by wiring some short sticks together to create an irregular geometric form. These frames I had painted red. I thought it would also be interesting to use three small mug shaped vases.
This was my first interpretation of the exercise.
Although I have reduced my work to three days a week I still find I am quite busy. People who retire often say they don't know how they previously had time to go to work. This is a little bit worrying. I find it hard to imagine being busier.
I attended a class with my teacher Mrs Elizabeth Angell on Wednesday. The subject for the class, as indicated in this weeks title, was an arrangement using dried leaves. After thinking about the exercise I remembered I had some dried aspidistra leaves. I thought I could thread them through two frame-works I had made by wiring some short sticks together to create an irregular geometric form. These frames I had painted red. I thought it would also be interesting to use three small mug shaped vases.
This was my first interpretation of the exercise.
After the class I re-worked the leaves in this larger rectangular vase, adding one fresh leaf for contrast.
This interpretation pleased me more. If I have an opportunity next week I will try to create my original intention.
Greetings from Christopher
Christopher,
ReplyDeleteI love final interpretation on the last arrangement. The clear separation of the older material from the fresh is more striking. Just the hint of the green reminds us of Spring's promise.
Hope you and Laurie are enjoying being back home.
Best regards, Michael