Three weeks ago I noted that the Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia Baileyana, in the garden had started to bloom. Now there are large masses of bright yellow blossom cascading from the branches.
This small branch shows how the mass of blossom begins to weigh the branches down.
In close up each individual blossom is no more than a ball of fine filaments offering their load of pollen to the bees and other insects that can be heard humming among the branches.
About a week ago I decided to use the wattle blossom in an ikebana in such a way as to show its profusion and the cascading movement. This mean that I need to use a tall vase.
I decided to use this tapering vase by the New Zealand-born ceramic artist Arnaud Barraud, who now lives in Victoria. The tapering form makes securing the branches a little difficult.
My solution to this problem was to put a vertical fixture into a small kenzan that sits on the bottom of the vase then wire two cross bars at the top. Without being secured to the vertical fixture these cross bars would easily fall down inside the vase.
In the final ikebana I have massed the blossoms toward the right front so that they cascade below the level of the vase rim. To the left I have created a smaller mass of the blue-grey leaves of the wattle. A visual balance to the masses is created by two lines on the left-hand side. These are stems of Strelitzia juncea, which has a matte grey-green colour. The stems are formed into triangular shapes creating a more contemporary feel to the ikebana and picking up the shape of the vase.
I really enjoyed the exuberance of the wattle blossom for a few days until it started to fade. However the Strelitzia stems were still looking quite fresh so I decided to re-use them. I had noticed an out-of-season flower of Agapanthus and thought it would work well with the stems I had saved.
The single flower had a slight curve which I exaggerated a bit more so that it would make a contrasting line to the straight lines of the Strelitzia. Contrasting straight and curving lines is an exercise in the Sogetsu curriculum. I was pleased to be able to create the interesting space between the curving line and the straight line. The irregularly formed vase by Graeme Wilkie has a pale celadon glaze.
Greetings from Christopher
19th July 2020
I just love the look of that Cootamundra Wattle and wish I had some to work with. Thanks for the pointer on how you fixed the cross bar in that lovely tapered container. I really like the arrangement you made with the wattle and it’s too bad it doesn’t last long, but I like the next arrangement you made with the same Strelitzia stems and the Agapanthus.
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