WINTER STARTS TO PASS

As we transition from Winter to Spring, on the south coast of Victoria, the weather has become unexpectedly calm with cool foggy mornings followed by bright sunny afternoons. At this time of year the weather is often unsettled and windy. Not so recently, so Laurie  and I took the opportunity to visit a nearby nature reserve called Iron Bark Basin. The view below is from the road at the top of a ridge looking out to the sea.

This is the walking track through the basin where the local wattle acacia pycnantha is in bloom.

   

I noticed some correas flowering beside the path. We have a variety of these lovely bell-shaped flowers growing in our garden.

This banksia below is actually beside the path in our garden.

Recently my teacher set the class the exercise of using rope or man-made fibre in an arrangement. In the class my colleague Emily Karanikolopoulos  * used very thick cord that she wrapped around a vessel. She cleverly used the cord as a 'spacer', inserting firm green leaves between the loops and adding a stem of white Japanese Flowering Quince as a focal point.

I decided to use a light blue vase I had been given by a friend. The shape of the vase suggested to me the idea of using 'straight' lines to emphasise it's shape and contrast them with the lines of the rope. By creating straight lines with a single sedge leaf I have also been able to create a space to the righthand side of  the vase in which the rope is then suspended. The bright yellow of the stiff synthetic rope also contrasts well with the colour of the vase. I have added two leucadendron * flower-like heads that surround their seed 'cone'.

Click here for photos of the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International annual exhibition at the Gasworks Arts Park *.

Greetings from Christopher

30th August 2014

* Click on the blue text for further information.