MASS AND LINE

This week I set my Geelong students the exercise of making a freestyle ikebana arrangement using Australian native materials. Sometimes native materials can be difficult to use in ikebana. For example eucalyptus leaves often hang and many common flower plants are rather sparse looking so that making a mass can be difficult. 

Christine used Kangaroo paw as her main subject and deliberately chose the curving stem to create a space that extends the ikebana. She also chose to use four different materials for colour and textural contrast.

  

Maureen has used two particularly strong pink Grevillea flowers from the garden of an old friend and former neighbour. Maureen has removed a lot of the foliage to show the flowers and arranged them so that their slight curves move toward each other.

  

Ellie arranged some rich pink Mulla Mulla, Ptilotus exaltatus, flower-heads and Eucalyptus leaves in a footed compote. Asymmetry is emphasised by the creation of a space between the two masses of the Mulla Mulla flowers.

Helen Q has used a mass of spent flower capsules from a Corymbia ficifolia, after all the stamens had fallen. This has been contrasted with a short stem and mass of the leaves.

Maree completed a different exercise, a Morimono, or 'Heaped Things" arrangement, using fruit and vegetables only. She has playfully inserted a bunch of celery upside down in a black cylinder and added a cascading line of tomatoes that continues across the table top.

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On Monday this week we were able to hold the first meeting of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. The exercise for the workshop was to make an ikebana arrangement of 'Mass and Line'. The planned presenter was unable to attend and Shoso Shimbo took on the task at short notice.

I decided that I would make a mass of multiple short lines using the spear-like stems of Strelitzia juncea, from the garden. This is interesting material because the plant appears not to have leaves.

However, if you look very closely at the tip you can make out a groove with tiny margins that are the vestigial leaves.

 

In my ikebana I used nine stems to create two tight masses from the stems to which I have added a small spray of Dwarf Nandina Domestica. The line is from the same material. The ceramic vase has two side openings as well as one at the top, which I left free of materials.

On my way home from the evening class in Geelong, as I came around a corner, I was confronted by this sight.

I must admit I burst out laughing. It immediately put me in mind of one of my childhood books "In the Land of the Talking Trees". I have often noticed this tough old tree that is still living in spite of having been burnt hollow in a past bushfire. The eyes, though, are a very recent addition!

This link will take you to the Victorian Branch website with other photos from the workshop.

Greetings from Christopher

27th February 2021

"UNEXPECTED IKEBANA"

This week, at class in Geelong, two of the students were working on exercises from their text books.

Jo's exercise was a revision from Book 5. In her case, using a vertical fixture in a tall vase. She has used two branches of New Zealand Mirror Bush, Coprosma repens and Belladonna lily, Amaryllis belladonna.

This ikebana by Tess, also from the same book, is on the theme of focusing on the properties of glass vases. She has used clear glass and set a single leaf of the prostrate, Fern Leaf Banksia, Banksia blechnifolia and a Dietes flower under the water.

At the beginning of the year I was struggling to come up with something different and a little challenging for my most senior students. Out of what seems like nowhere came the idea of "Unexpected Ikebana". As with other more nebulous topics, I deliberately do not offer any directions or suggestions, as I am most interested to see the students interpretation of the theme.

Helen Q has used some dried Kiwi Fruit Vine, Actinidia deliciosa, which she has supported on a laboratory test-tube stand. Using fine armature copper wire she has created a focal point by creating a small net.

Helen has also wound the wire around the vine in places, and as you can see in this close-up, has continued the line of the vine using coils of the wire of the same diameter as the missing vine.

Christine used a slightly concertinaed tube of stiff brown paper that leans strongly to one side. A stem of bright green Brachtychiton acerfolius leaves issues from the end of the tube and a mass of (I think) Brachychiton rupestris seed pods bursts from its side.

  

Maureen created this fine wire sculpture which included small balls of a bright silvery wire that seemed to glitter in the light coming through the window. The vessel is a narrow test-tube-shaped vase. Two single Agapanthus flowers pick up the colour of the vase base.

 

Ellie's Ikebana made me smile. Some stems of bamboo and a single Heliconia flower shoot from a vibrantly coloured shoulder bag that was hanging on a grey room-divider. It surprised me, and by definition met the (unstated) criterion of an "Unexpected Ikebana".

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With the extra rain in the late spring and early summer last year the Hydrangeas in our garden have grown well this season. However, they have flowered later. I picked three blooms for my ikebana this week. 

These three were growing on almost horizontal stems because the plant's growth was strong and the flower-heads are heavy. I have arranged them as they grew so they are spreading away from each other. To connect them I have added three stems of striped Miscanthus sinensis, 'Zebrinus' . Because I wanted the lines to complement the 'movement' of the Hydrangeas, I have caught their tips together rather than allowing the miscanthus to adopt its natural fan-like habit. The ikebana is set in two opaque glass vases.

Greetings from Christopher

21st February 2021

 

BELLADONNA

Harking back to last week's posting, the bee-keeper, rescuer, did arrive. No more bees in the compost bin.

This is Garry lifting the bin off the compost heap.

Later, he cut the large pieces of honeycomb from the side of the bin and placed them in a prepared beehive box. I really admired his cautious and gentle approach, taking great care not to stress the bees.

Changing hemispheres...

 

...two days ago, my internet friend Amos sent this picture from his garden in Maryland, USA. "... four inches of snow so far..." he reported. I checked the temperature at the time and it was -7 Celsius. 

Meanwhile, in this hemisphere, the ducks looked very comfortable on the golf links at Torquay. I wonder whether the golfers were using their presence to take a breather.

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Last week the senior students in my Geelong class were set the topic of an ikebana arrangement on the theme of 'Summer by the Sea'. As one should expect, there were a variety of interpretations of the theme. Here are some examples.

Maureen used a large piece of driftwood, to which she added fresh material including Pigface, Carpobrotus virescens (which grows in our sand-dunes), a red Lucadendron and an unidentified green material.

Christine arranged some dried kelp in an opaque green glass vase. The contrasting fresh material is a succulent, I think perhaps a cultivar of Crassula arborescens.

On the edge of a bowl that suggested a rock pool, Helen arranged a piece of drift wood. Beneath the water is a shell which is partly screened by Samphire, Crithmum maritimum,

An arrangement using direct fixing was Tess's exercise at the class. This means that no mechanical techniques can be used. It is a surprisingly difficult task in a tall nageire vase, especially a glass one - because the surface is slippery. She has used bamboo and Plumbago auriculata. 

In our garden...

... the first of the Belladonna Lilies, Amaryllis belladonna, has flowered. It is a favourite of mine having come from my parents garden and, by family tradition, being associated with my birthday. Last year I missed the opportunity of using it in an ikebana, so I was determined to do so this year. My grandmother called this the Naked-lady-lily because the flowers appear before the leaves, the long bare stems producing an elegant line.

I have tried to capture the simple elegance of the flower by arranging only one stem with two bullrush leaves that I have curved to create a flowing movement around the flowers. As I was setting up to take this photograph the sun broke through the clouds creating a shaft of bright light. So I patiently waited until it began to cloud over again to capture this softer light.

The small ceramic bowl is by the South Australian ceramic artist Jane Robertson.

Greetings from Christopher

13th February 2021

 

FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES AGAIN

   

There was a raucous noise being made by the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos when I was in the garden this morning. This link will take you to a 56 second recording of their call made by Graeme Chapman (you will need to click on the "Listen" tab in the top right-hand corner).

When I zoomed in on this photo, which I took at the time, I was able to count 38 cockatoos. I am sure there were others that I could not see.  The Monterey Pine, Pinus radiata is in a neighbour's garden. 

Elsewhere in our garden the red Corymbia ficifolia, is flowering for only the second time. This tree has been re-classified and was previously known as Eucalyptus ficifolia. It can have either pink, red or orange flowers. The red is really intense... 

...and is attractive to bees.

When we came home during the week after a few nights away. I noticed quite a few bees flying around our compost bin. On closer inspection I discovered that they had started to establish a hive in the bin.

As I write I am waiting for a bee-keeper to come and remove them.

This week marked the return to face-to-face classes with my students. We were all pleased to catch up again after an eleven month hiatus, because of Covid 19 restrictions. I had four classes during the week and below are some photos I took of the student's ikebana.

Marisha's curriculum exercise was an arrangement in which a surface is made from the massing of lines. She has used Dietes leaves to create the surface and added other shorter leaves with a cream edge. Some fine lines of small white flowers adds a textural contrast.

I set my advanced students the task of making a "cooling summer ikebana emphasising water".

Maureen used three glass cylinders in which she arranged two types of fine vine. The darker vine is set against the white table top and the cylinder with a pale vine is placed against the dark grey background. The small red highlights are very tiny cherry tomatoes.

Helen Q arranged a whole Agapanthus flowerhead with both seeds and open flowers in the front vase. In the second vase she has placed single, opened flowers in some of the inverted test tubes that float in the vase.

Ellie has deconstructed a Hydrangea flowerhead and floated the clusters of flowers in her bowl. She said the idea for deconstructing the flowerhead was triggered by the etched lines in the bowl.

I also had some new students and was keen for others to do some 'back to basics' revision.

This was my demonstration example of the first exercise in the Sogetsu curriculum. It is a 'Basic Upright arrangement' which is composed of three principal lines. The tallest line is nearly vertical and defines this as an 'upright' arrangement. The second line of the same material leans to the left and forward toward the left shoulder. These two asymmetrically placed lines are balanced by the low placement of the flower line on the right-hand side. The flower extends forward, which is not apparent because of the foreshortening of the photograph. 

The materials are Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia Baileyana branches and Red Valerian, Centranthus ruber. The vessel is a traditional ceramic suiban with a cobalt blue glaze.

Greetings from Christopher

6th February 2021