Wednesday last week was officially the second day of Winter in this part of the world. Victoria is back in Covid-19 lockdown, but fortunately Iron Bark Basin in the Great Otway National Park is within our travel restriction of 5km (now 10km). Laurie and I decided to break our routine and take our permitted daily exercise there.
When we arrived, I suddenly realised how summery the scene looked in the bright sunshine, in spite of it being fairly cool. Because the majority of trees in our landscape are evergreen, the signs of winter are much more subtle than many northern hemisphere environments. At this time of year there are fewer flowers and it is a little too early for the first of the wattles (Acacias) to bloom. In spite of the sunshine I found a jumper was required.
This glimpse of the sea was all the more deceptive of the actual season because the ground cover in the foreground has been slashed making the scene appear like a hot dry summer's day. In fact, the slashing of the low vegetation beside this part of the path has been done to prepare a fire-break for the next summer when the bush fire risk is our major concern.
A couple of weeks ago I had set one of my classes the exercise of making an ikebana arrangement that incorporated 'Branches with Fruit or Berries'.
Judy used branches of Pittosporum in a shallow black bowl.
Róża used three branches of lemons. Placement and securing the stems was quite a challenge because the vessel is narrow and wide.
Coralie used Nandina in her ikebana. Unfortunately the small berries are not easy to see in this photo.
Marion set a single branch of fig in this small shell shaped vessel. She then added two short stems with one leaf each to give the work depth to the rear and forward.
Marta arranged branches of small Pomegranates in a shallow trough vessel. She used two kenzans to create space in the work and added a stem of Cotoneaster to provide height.
Over the past couple of weeks I had noticed a
Cotoneaster bush by the path around the local sports oval. I thought its red berries would make a good ikebana subject for an unusual facetted vase I had been given by the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School. The vase has been dipped in a black glaze except for a small area at the top which has been dribbled with a bright red glaze.
I am conscious of the fact that in making ikebana I am usually drawn to, or inspired by, a particular material which becomes my starting point. It is relatively unusual for me to begin an ikebana arrangement by choosing the vessel first. Doing so makes one consider carefully the nature of the materials that will complement the vessel's colour, texture and form. Both the unusual shape, but more particularly the colours of this vase, require careful consideration of materials that will be suitable.
When I went to collect the Cotoneaster berries I was pleased to notice that some of the leaves had also coloured rather beautifully. I have stripped almost all of the (many) green leaves on the Cotoneaster. The two branches of Cotoneaster are asymmetrically placed on opposite sides and visually connected by a mass made with two bunches of Pittosporum berries and leaves.
Greetings from Christopher
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