WARM WEATHER: EMPHASISING WATER

This week marks the beginning of the academic year and children have returned to school after the long summer holidays. It is often the case that the first month of the school year is the hottest. January has been reasonably mild on the south coast, but today we are expecting 35 C. Because of the anticipated heat we took an early morning walk on the beaches west of Torquay and I caught these reflections of the sky in some rock pools.

This reminded me of the theme of the class I gave the evening before, it was: an arrangement 'Emphasising water'. Always an appropriate theme for this time of year. Below are some examples of the students work.

Maureen created both works above. The first with long lines in a suiban leaving a large open water surface and the second in clear glass bowls using green materials only.

Christine also used a suiban arranging berries drooping down toward the water surface that also reflected the lines.

Her second work was a single leaf carefully suspended in a glass vase filled to the top with water.

Ellie arranged these materials both above and below the water and added a single sunflower petal to create a small colour accent.

In her second work she arranged two sunflower heads in a glass bowl and added two stems projecting to the rear to give the work depth.

Vivien, a second year student, created a variation number 3. This is said to be the most 'western' looking of the early curriculum lessons, as the materials are centrally placed in the suiban with the flower projecting forward. 

Above is my work, two stems of Japonica with two fruit attached, arranged in a glass cylinder. 

Greetings from Christopher
7th February 2015