FLAX and KALE

This morning the yellowing leaves on the apricot looked bright against the dark bark of the eucalyptus in the background.

And when the sun came out they positively glowed. The colours were also intensified with the rain that fell overnight. I have noticed the changes of the season with the coming of winter. The first buds have appeared on the Japanese Flowering Quince and strong new growth is showing on the climbing Lorraine Lee rose.

In the warmth of the classroom my Geelong students had various ikebana exercises to complete recently.

Jo's exercise was to make an ikebana without the aid of a kenzan. We had not discussed the exercise in advance and she quickly produced this very contemporary looking ikebana with a bold design. It has a good feeling of space and shows the water surface well. However, this exercise is an especially good opportunity to practise techniques of fixing so that the materials do not need to be supported on the sides of the suiban.

This was Jo's second ikebana, using branching material that can be intersected so that the branches are braced against each other. The use of wiring is permissible in this case, as long as it is not noticeable. Although it is not apparent in this photograph, the middle branch in the ikebana is not touching the back wall of the suiban.

The senior students' exercise was to make a slanting, variation number two, ikebana in a nageire vessel. I had not expected Christine to use Anthurium flower as the main stems. However, the proportions and angles were correct and the result quite striking.

Here is Ellie's version of the exercise. She used Magnolia grandiflora branches and white Chrysanthemums in a pale blue nageire vessel. The multi-headed nature of the flowers made it hard to emphasise the line element in that part of the ikebana.

Maree's exercise was to make an arrangement using leaves only. The straight lines she has used are a maroon Dracaena and the light green leaves are from a Split-leaf philodendron; recently re-classified as Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum. Her third material is Ornamental Kale Brassica oleracea. I felt this material did not technically qualify for the exercise as the leaves were not used individually. Maree has placed the Kale behind the other material.

After the class Maree kindly gave me two of the Ornamental Kale which I used later when I came home.

Using two of the New Zealand flax leaves from last week's ikebana, I was particularly attracted to the silvery-fawn colours in the damaged part of this leaf.

The tall line on the left was intended to show the colour but it was not really successful. Quite a bit of mechanics went into positioning the angled leaf. Unfortunately it insisted in being seen side on and thus the colour was lost from this angle.

A few days later I re-set the materials in this black ceramic vase which showed off both materials much more satisfactorily. The position of the single flax leaf enables the surface to be seen clearly and has held its position without any help other than the "cross bar" fixture within the vase. I also feel that the mass of the Kale is more harmonious with the vase.

The vase is by the Victorian ceramicist Terunobu Hirata.

Greetings from Christopher

28th May 2023

 

USING WOOD

As we walked home yesterday my attention was caught by the dark clouds and rain on the horizon that threw into high relief the brief shaft of sunlight on the cliffs at Rocky Point. A dramatic moment of transient beauty. Today the sky is overcast with showers and strong winds from the southwest.

Last Monday the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School held a workshop meeting that was led by Lara Telford, one of the senior teachers of the Branch. For the workshop Lara set the topic of creating an ikebana featuring wood with a strong character. My mind went to a large, highly-textured piece of wood that I have had for over twenty years. I originally collected it to place in the garden. However, its ikebana possibilities became apparent very quickly. The piece of wood has graceful curving lines. However the principal challenge of this piece is that it is very heavy, weighing 6.3kg. 

The last time I used it was at an exhibition curated by Emily Karanikolopoulos in April last year. Because of the weight of the wood I had to use a large number of stones in the base of this Shigaraki storage vessel to prevent it from tipping over. I did not want to use this large vessel again on this occasion. So in advance of the workshop I tried out a number of larger vases that might work with the wood.

I finally settled on my largest ceramic cylinder. Above is a trial with the wood standing with its heaviest end at the base. However, this was not stable and the lines in the wood were lost.

I finally settled on this configuration with the vessel on its side. What appealed to me about this was the way that, from the left hand end, the wood seemed to leap over the vessel. I then collected three long leaves of flax from the garden so that the ikebana would have only a small amount of fresh material that would keep the wood as the principal subject of the ikebana.

Although it is not particularly apparent, I used a cross-bar inside the cylinder so that the leaves are not resting on the table. I chose the leaf on the right because it has started to wither and has some interesting colour and texture. Barely visible under the arch of the wood and between the other two leaves is a small dried Hydrangea head. In retrospect this element should have been a brighter colour. I was appreciative of the advice at "critique time" to slide the cylinder back so that its opening was closer in to the arch of the wood.

More photos from the workshop on the Sogetsu School Victorian Branch website under Recent Workshops tab. Lara can be found on Instagram and Facebook: lara_telford

Greetings from Christopher
21st May 2023

MOTHER'S VASE

 

The bright sunshine and almost windless, calm air on Saturday lured Laurie and I out to walk with friends, Heather and John. 

They chose a delightful beach walk along a short section, between Anglesea and Aireys Inlet, of the Great Ocean Walk. We were in luck as the tide was very low and were able to explore beaches that we had not previously walked along.

It is always fun to discover 'new' places like this natural arch between two beaches, where Heather and Laurie posed for me;

and later, with John as well in the photo, they posed with the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet in the background.

A closer view of the lighthouse and Eagle Rock from the beach.

Earlier on our walk I took the opportunity to photograph a small section of clay that was composed of pink and cream alternating layers.

The layers are very strangely folded together...

...which immediately brings to my mind larger scale patterning of alternating colours sometimes seen in aerial photos. Also it reminds me of the surface patterning of Pippin Drysdale's ceramics.

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In my Geelong class this week I set the senior students the exercise of making an ikebana with berry bearing branches.

Helen stripped all the leaves from the branches to make this large double vessel ikebana using Cotoneaster. The removal of all the leaves creates a bold statement because of the reduced colour palette and the intense red of the berries.

Ellie created her ikebana in a glass vase with the main element being a red painted Corokia that she submerged inside the vase. She then added a Cotoneaster branch with red berries as well as some white berries.

 

Maureen used branches of Sweet Pittosporum, Pittosporum undulatum, for her ikebana which she arranged in a copper vessel. She carefully defoliated the branches to show the lines while preserving some of the glossy leaves and showing the matte orange berries.

Tess chose Mirror Bush Coprosma repens, as her subject material. She also removed quite a lot of the leaves to show the lines and the fairly sparse orange berries.

Maree's curriculum exercise was to make an ikebana "Using Flowers Only". It is quite a difficult task given that the element of line is so important. She she created a gentle S-curve, with vividly coloured Snapdragon Antirrhinum, which is contrasted with a mass made with orange Chrysanthemums.

Earlier in the week I attended a workshop meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter. The focus of the meeting was to make an ikebana referencing our Mothers or mother figures in our lives. Today, the second Sunday in May, is Mother's Day.

This very simple ikebana was my offering. As I said to the members, it was not really about the camellia stems and flowers. It was about this vase that was made by my mother in 1955 when she attended evening pottery classes in Melbourne.

When I look at this vase I am impressed by the skill she developed very quickly in just a couple of years. We then moved to Torquay and that was the end of her pottery classes. I had never previously used the vase, which was given to me only a few years ago by one of my brothers. Oddly, it is only in this last week that I have realised that my awareness of the beauty and unique qualities of hand-made ceramics dates back to my early childhood.

Greetings from Christopher

14th May 2023

  

 

COLOUR HARMONY

In the garden autumn colouring is evident in some of the northern hemisphere plants...

...such as this Japanese Ivy Parthenocissus tricuspidata (also known as Boston Ivy). Our soil, climate and proximity to the sea (300 metres away) are not very suitable to many of the deciduous plants that colour well in autumn.

However, this Australian native, Banksia ericifolia is doing well and flowers beautifully in this season through to winter.  

The hook-shaped styles of the inflorescence are orange and give a rich colouring to the yellow tepals.

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This week, in my Geelong class, I had set the senior students the exercise of making an "Autumn ikebana, focusing on leaf colour". 

Ellie created a nageire ikebana, which requires a tall vase. She used a strong, slanting branch of yellow-orange leaves for the principal line and orange-centred yellow chrysanthemums as a textural contrast.

Maureen used two branches of Manchurian pear Pyrus ussuriensis in an unusual flat-topped ikebana vase with a well for the kenzan. She deliberately removed some leaves from the bottom of the branches to show the newly formed flower buds. A small stem of Ginko leaves provides some lighter colour at the centre of the arrangement.

Tess set two curving stem lines of "Beurre Bosc", an old Belgian variety of Pyrus communis, with red leaves. The green leaves at the mouth of the vase are lilac Syringa. Unfortunately, the flattening effect of the photograph conceals the fact that the righthand line curves forward. The vase is from one of the Bizen kilns.

Jo's exercise was to make an ikebana that can hang on a wall. As a frame-work she used a structure she had made last year from thin stems. The green leaves are Agapanthus and the orange flowers, Clivias.

 

My Melbourne students also had individual exercises.

Marisha's exercise was to make an ikebana "Using leaves only". In this case, dried Aspidistra, cut-leaf Maple, variegated Bromeliad and fallen Crepe Myrtle leaves.  She also used her long lasting "Ozaka" leaves (botanical name unknown). Marisha decided to set the leaves in a glass vase to create this flowing line design.

Jacqueline's exercise was to use unconventional (man-made) material in her ikebana; in this case, wire netting. She first moulded the netting into a cone shape and then fixed it into the spherical vessel so that it issued from one of the two openings. A single stem of Jasmine vine, Jasminum officinale, is supported by the netting and three small Camellia flowers provide colour highlights. 

The maroon ceramic vase was used to give height, so that the vine did not touch the table surface.

My ikebana this week is made using Hydrangea flowers that I picked two weeks ago.

I was interested to notice how well they had dried with no wilting and very little shrivelling. Their colour change was also fascinating. The red had become maroon and the pale green parts had developed into a matt blue-green.

When I placed the vase on the sideboard I noticed the close harmony between the petal's grey-green and the celadon platter behind them. I photographed them against a white backdrop for clarity of this image. I added a small bare branch from the apricot tree as a contrasting element.

The celadon platter is by the Adelaide ceramicist Dawn Slade-Faull (1927-1987). The white, domed vase is by the Tasmanian ceramicist Sallee Warner.

Greetings from Christopher

7th May 2023