On Tuesday evening last week I went for a walk along the beach and was delighted to see the full moon rising above a bank of quite dark clouds. The wind was fairly strong and there was rain out to sea which was moving away along the coast.
As the moon rose higher I noticed its reflection in the wet sand and on the surface of the water.
The moonrise was quite a beautiful sight even as it became partially veiled by cloud.
Of course, there has been a lot of media attention this past week given to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The forward-looking senior curator at the Geelong Art Gallery has created a fascinating exhibition looking at The Moon as represented in art works from a number of different perspectives. After attending the opening of the exhibition, watching TV programs about the Apollo 11 expedition and seeing the beautiful moon rise, my mind was full of these images and ideas. I thought it was an appropriate opportunity to use a crescent moon-shaped ceramic ikebana vase.
The materials are Acacia baileyana, an over-ripe pomegranate that has split open and a branch of apricot. I think my ikebana looks unexpectedly abundant for a winter arrangement. Such is the joy of our acacias that start to flower at this time. I was particularly pleased that the curve of the branch echoed the profile of the vase.
On Saturday 13th July I attended an Ikebana International workshop in Melbourne led by my colleague Chieko Yazaki, the Melbourne branch head of the Shogetsudokoryu school. The theme of Chieko's presentation was ikebana using aspidistra leaves. As the blue highlighted link will show you these leaves are highly regarded as an ikebana material and particularly used in the creation of seika arrangements.
Chieko's demonstration included a variety of techniques for using and manipulating aspidistra leaves which can be seen on this link to the I.I. blog.
This is my arrangement from the workshop that I re-set at home. I have used five fresh leaves from our garden and one that was turning yellow. In the space between the two groups a white camellia is peeping from the left hand side. I really like the sense of movement which has been created in this ikebana. The leaves have been manipulated into folds by taping wire to their backs.
Greetings from Christopher
21st July 2019
* From The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
Those moon photos are lovely as are your arrangements. I really like the movement you created with the aspidistra leaves and how you arranged that white camellia to peek out from behind without too strong of a distracting presence.
ReplyDeleteDear Christopher, The moon's refection on the wet sand is stunning. Love your crescent moon creation. The aspidistra arrangement is very strong. Congratulations on all! Warmest regards, Michael
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