ASPECTS OF MASS

In recent weeks some of my students had exercises that included or resulted in the creation of mass. I was interested to see the variety of ways mass can be created and thought I would share a couple of examples with you.

This first example is by Tess and is the text book 3 exercise of 'Massed expression'. Tess has used the leaves of Brachychiton Acerfolius, commonly known as the Illawarra Flame Tree, and gently interwoven them to make an abundant mass spilling over the side of the vessel. Peeping from behind is a second mass of Paper Narcissus, narcissus papyraceus.

The next example is by Helen. The exercise I set her was 'Using Glass Vessels' from Book 5 of the Sogetsu curriculum. She has used just two leaves and a yellow 'Pompom' chrysanthemum. Arranging inside a glass vessel is difficult because, among other things, the materials often look much bigger. Helen has skillfully reduced the size of these Prayer Plant, maranta leuconeura, leaves by cutting them in half down the length of the central vein. When I looked carefully at her work it seemed also to be an example of an arrangement incorporating line and mass.

On the theme of mass and line here is an arrangement I made in the early Spring of last year. I have used a creamy-yellow Callistemon from the garden. The black vase by Greg Daly has a gold and silver leaf decoration that accentuates the flower colour.

Greetings from Christopher
30th June 2018