Up until today the late summer and early autumn has been quite dry, but fortunately without ferocious heat.
This was how the Front Beach at Torquay looked last weekend on the 7th day of Autumn. Very much a summer scene.
The next beach, the Torquay Surf Beach, was also quite busy with a lot of people enjoying the water and warm sunshine.
A few days later I was a little surprised to see this large group of people in kayaks on Spring Creek, which has its outlet on the Surf Beach. After the lock-downs of last year, many people are taking the opportunity to engage in outdoor activities while the weather is suitable. The trees overhanging the water are Moonahs, Melaleuca Lanceolata. On the right bank you can see that the branches have interesting irregular lines that make excellent material for larger scale ikebana sculptural work, but not today.
In the Torquay class I had set my the students the exercise of making an ikebana that incorporated some 'drift wood'. I like this exercise because of the textural contrast between the dried wood and the fresh materials. It also is an opportunity to show students that dried wood does not need to be placed in water and that it is a bad idea to try to insert dried wood into a kenzan. This is because the thick, tough wood is likely to bend the pins of the kenzan.
Marta used a very thick piece of wood that was from the base of a strong stem. She balanced it across the width of a deep, scoop-sided, ceramic bowl, creating a space underneath.
Two stems of Common Reed, Phragmites australis, with a small-leaved vine attached at the base, create a contrast with the mass of the wood.
Róża placed her driftwood across a copper suiban and used dried Hydrangea and grass seed-heads as contrasting material which had subtle coppery tones that complemented the wood and the bowl.
Marion placed her long piece of dried wood across a white suiban. The large space created was kept clear showing the water surface and her fresh material was contained by the line of the branch.
In the garden this week autumn colours have become apparent. The soft pinks I showed last week have been overtaken by the richer tones of ...
...this ornamental grape vine, vitis coignetiae, which was a striking bright red against the green of the apricot tree. Some of the Hydrangeas are also beginning to develop autumn colours.
This week's ikebana features the ornamental grapevine.
I have arranged it as a long line reaching forward and to the
left. As a foil to its deep red I have added a small mass of
acacia baileyana leaves and some stems of wild Rapeseed,
Brassica napus, which has small yellow flowers. The
bottle-shaped vessel is by the Castlemaine ceramic artist
Greetings from Christopher
13th March 2021
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