Last week I began term two classes for my Geelong and Torquay students after a six week break, and life has become suddenly busy again with activities beyond those classes. Being busy is, of course, a good thing.
The usual venue for my Torquay students was not available for the first week and it was necessary to hold the class at my home. The theme for the class was a minor challenge for the students. I had advised them to bring only three flowers and that they would arrange those flowers with other materials that they could choose from the garden. I had set out a number of tall vases and suibans* for the students to use, so they had the possibilities of those vessels in mind. We then walked around the garden so that they could see what was available (and what was off limits ! ). Their choices included various pieces of 'driftwood' and other dried materials scattered about.
Marion had bought three intense pink carnations from her garden which she set with some curving stems of Swan River Pea, Gastrolobium celsianum.
Coralie used New Zealand Mirror Bush, Coprosma repens, in a tall blue vase with three stems of Leucadendron, L. salignum.
Marta arranged her Bromeliad, B aechmea gamosepala in a circular suiban with Banksia integrifolia, and some 'driftwood' from the garden.
Judy arranged some Lisianthus, with some dried branches of Coast Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum, in an ikebana vase by Graeme Wilkie.
This close up shows clearly the five fused stems and, at the bottom, the stalk with two fused stems. A couple of weeks ago I met the owner of the house and asked permission to cut the plant to use in an ikebana arrangement.
I had set up trestle tables, as the exercise did not include the students having to take into account the situation in which the ikebana was to be set. I began the class with a demonstration of a fixing technique, using a vertical fixture in a tall vase which two of the students used.
Róža arranged stems of Hakea laurina, with some 'driftwood' in a green suiban.
During my regular walk last summer I noticed a very unusual Agapanthus flower in the garden of a holiday house. The flower stalk had five fused, curving stems, and one very large flower. On the plant there was another flower stalk with two fused stems.
The larger stem had developed a 'corkscrew' twist as well, so that it looks smaller at the bottom because at that point it is side-on. I have arranged the two stems in a moon-shaped ceramic ikebana vase and placed them parallel to each other so that there is narrow space between them. This unique material is so strong that it does not need anything else added to the work.
Greetings from Christopher
9th May 2021
* Suiban (Japanese) - shallow tray-like vessels.
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