At the beginning of August I set some students the exercise of making a freestyle arrangement using narcissus. These are such a popular early flower of spring which really lift our spirits at the end of winter.
Helen used a mass of yellow and orange flowers only, without leaves, with a large heavily textured piece of dried branch material.
Rather than massing a lot of flowers, Margaret made an arrangement emphasising the upright growth habit of the narcissus. She did this by cutting stems at different lengths and placing them vertically; and then created a contrasting curving line with a branch of Japanese flowering quince, chaenomeles japonica.
In a more recent class, Kyoko's exercise was an arrangement 'Emphasising lines at the base', using the strong clean lines of chrysanthemum and dried globular material. She also added a contrasting curving line that helped define the space in the left-hand side of the arrangement.
At our last class, Kyoko made this freestyle arrangement, the curriculum exercise, 'Using flowers only'. This was the last ikebana Kyoko made at my class. She is due to return to Tokyo soon having spent 4 years in Melbourne and will be missed by her many friends in Melbourne.
On Friday this week I attended a Sogetsu Branch workshop given by Ursula Pagels, the Director of the Western Australia Branch of the Sogetsu School. The exercise was to learn a particular wiring technique to make a structure from disposable chopsticks.
Once the structure is completed it can be used in a variety of ways, including without any vase. This is my completed work to which I have added dried aspidistra leaves and dwarf nandina leaves.
Click here for photos from the workshop.
Greetings from Christopher
28th October 2018
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