STRELITZIA NICOLAI

The structure that I created for the first week of the Sogetsu Victoria Branch Annual Exhibition in November (see below) has now been "re-purposed".

It is now serving as a Christmas decoration. 

That is, as the supporting structure for displaying Christmas cards. It has become this year's substitute for a Christmas tree. Having been so busy over recent months with the preparations for the 60th anniversary of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, many things are behind schedule. However, Laurie and I are looking forward to a more relaxing time over the summer months.

A couple of weeks ago, my student Christine, told me an inflorescence on her Strelitzia nicolai had started to open. As she was about to go away for the Christmas holidays she offered me the flowerhead. An offer which I happily accepted. The S. Nicolai in our garden is yet to flower and may still take some years. 

The inflorescence has large blue-grey bracts, long white sepals and a bluish-purple "tongue". It grows on a short stem in among the very large leaves and is very heavy. I have only once before been able to use one of these flowerheads as an ikebana subject. That was back in 2003, when I attended a workshop presented by Master Instructor Tetsunori Kawana on the Queensland Gold Coast. My friend who lived there had the nerve to ask a nurseryman for one leaf and flower from a plant that I coveted, growing in the nursery.

This is the ikebana that I made at that workshop. The large leaf, which had autumn tones, curled and draped beautifully in front of the inflorescence.

This is my ikebana after critique by Mr Kawana. His comment was that with such a large and spectacular flower nothing else is necessary. Just careful placement in an appropriate vessel.

I now realise also that the leaf not so much competed with, but hid the beauty of the inflorescence. A very useful lesson. 

When I took the inflorescence out of the box in which I carried it home, this above, was the first view I had.  And it took my breath away. I was amazed at the geometry of the plant and the mass of white sepals at the centre of the three strong lines. I took this photo after I had removed some of the sepals as they were discolouring with age.

I then took a series of photos of the flower placed in various positions in a heavy ceramic vessel. I finally settled on two images.

This shows the inflorescence from above. The mass of white sepals and the geometry are revealed.

This view shows the basic structure of the inflorescence. The largest of the bracts reaches upward to the right. A second bract points toward the left rear. A third bract is less obvious in the photo. It is reaching forward to the right front. Between the three is the mass of white sepals and blue tongues. The visual mass of the inflorescence balances with the mass of the vessel.

The vessel is by the Victorian ceramicist Graeme Wilkie.

Best wishes for the festive season,
Christopher

22nd December 2024

 

SHOWING LINES AT THE BASE: USING TWO VESSELS

During the final term for this year of my Geelong class, I asked the senior students to choose the subject for each week's exercise. At the class on 28th of November the chosen theme was an Ikebana "Showing the lines at the base" and "Using two vessels". 

"Showing Lines at the Base" is one of the Sogetsu curriculum exercises. This particular exercise has always made me think about the traditional rikka and seika styles which employ this characteristic. In those styles all the materials arise together from one point before spreading out. The Sogetsu exercise does not have the requirement that all the materials are grouped together. However, it does cause the ikebanist to focus on creating clean strong lines. Usually, it also leads to the creation of a high focal point in the Ikebana.

Helen placed her vessels one behind the other. The main lines are flower stems of New Zealand flax Phormium. The fine mass is one of the Corokia species, with small oval leaves. Helen has added a yellowing New Zealand flax leaf as a colour highlight in the middle of the mass.

Maureen used three flowering stems of Strelitzia reginae that curve toward each other creating an enclosed space. The fine leaves of a single Nandina stem creates a mass that surrounds the flowers. The right-hand stems are set in a black trough that sits on top of the suiban and runs toward the back; but it is very hard to see the trough against the dark background.

Christine stacked two suibans. The lower one is circular and the upper one almost circular with a small concave section on the right side. Her botanical materials are stems of Agapanthus in various stages from bud to opening flower.

Ellie used Grass tree Xanthorrhoea leaves, bundled tightly to create a single line at the base. She added Gerbera flowers as a focal contrast. The two vessels harmonise through their warm-coloured matte surfaces.

Last week I noticed that one of the leaves of the Tree Philodendron Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum was turning yellow as it began to die. The curious thing was that one half of the leaf had gone quite yellow while the other was mostly still green.

This looked like making a good ikebana subject. It took a couple of circuits of the garden before I noticed some Honeysuckle Lonicera, with a pale yellow flower. I chose it because it would harmonise rather than compete with the yellow of the leaf. It required some fixing technique to set the leaf at an angle while still showing its face to the viewer. The interesting faceted and sloping vase is by the Canberra-based ceramicist Therese Rasanen.

Greetings from Christopher

15th December 2024

SMOKEBUSH: COTINUS CORRYGRIA

 

In the garden, a week and a half ago, I noticed that the Brachychiton AcerIfolius was looking unhealthy. Some of the leaves were yellowing and dropping. I was worried that it may have had an insect infestation or some other problem. 

 

As I was looking for some explanation I looked up and noticed a small orange-coloured inflorescence that marked the beginning of the tree's first flowering. In some cases these trees will shed all of their leaves at this time of year and be covered in a spectacular display of red flowers.

I am not sure of precisely when we planted this now 4.5 metre tree. But I found a photo taken 32 years ago when it was about 30 cm tall.

It has been a long time coming and we are delighted; even though it is a small flowering. We are fortunate that this tree is tough enough to grow naturally over a wide geographical range from the tropical north of Australia to southern New South Wales. The flowering is especially spectacular because the stems of the panicles are the same bright red as the small bell-shaped flowers. I am hoping that this flowering develops well over the next few weeks.

Two weeks ago the final class for 2024 of my Melbourne class was held in Killingworth near Yea, which is northeast of Melbourne. My student Marcia kindly offered to host our end-of-year event at her property.  The theme was "Ikebana at home", with vases provided by Marcia and materials being gathered from the large garden. 

The ikebana was arranged on tables on the broad verandah, which created a problem for photography. We needed to hang a sheet as a backdrop, through which the outside light came rather strongly.  The result was a degree of silhouetting and an alteration to, and loss of colour.

Jacqueline used a footed vessel in which she arranged a single lichen-covered branch. After trimming the branch she added three stems of Salvia with dark blue flowers.

Marcia used a glass brick in which she set two stems and inflorescences of Smokebush Cotinus corrygria. The submerged stem follows a line in the front surface of the brick. The second stem, which supports a large infloresence, continues this line outside the brick.

Eugenia chose a ceramic vessel made from multiple slightly irregular cylinders. Her materials were branches of Linden Tilia cordata, which was in flower. Placed low at the front is a branch very much covered in lichen.

Aileen chose a "U" shaped square-section vessel in which she set a branch of an unidentified Acacia with interesting irregular lines on the left. On the right side are some purple Clematis flowers set among the seed pods and leaves of the same Acacia. Unfortunately, there is significant colour distortion in the photograph. The Acacia on the right had a distinctly bluish cast which is lost in the photo.

 

As I was in advance of the students, I had the opportunity to prepare an Omukaebana, 'welcoming arrangement', using a long curving branch of Smokebush. I added a mass of the inflorescence at the mouth of the vessel and underneath the water line. The dark maroon of the smoke bush looked heavy despite its feathery quality, so I added some large pale pink roses to brighten the ikebana. 

Greetings from Christopher

7th December 2024
 

LEAVES ONLY

Last Tuesday was very warm. Suddenly, a day in the mid-thirties. Perhaps, rather unsurprisingly, the warmth brought out an echidna that was foraging beside a path in the sand dunes.

The black arrow points at the echidna busily foraging while Laurie and I kept very still.

We were rewarded after a few minutes when the echidna slowly waddled across the path to explore the opposite side. It is always a delight to see these animals that are living quietly along side us.

At my class in Geelong we are coming toward the end of the term. 

Anne is almost at the end of Book One and is completing some revision exercises. Above is an "Slanting Variation No 1, nageire" ikebana. The nageire exercises are the most technically difficult in the first book of the Sogetsu curriculum.

The senior students' exercise was to make an ikebana using leaves only.

The students each made two ikebana arrangements. The first was an upright form. Maureen brought attention to an orange-coloured fading New Zealand flax Phormium leaf by using a suiban with an orange interior.

Her second ikebana was a simple form using two single  variegated Aspidistra leaves, that she partially shredded, in a pair of matching bottle shaped vases. The rhythm of the multiple lines seem to have a quite calming feeling.

Christine used a number of Elkhorn Platycerium fronds from her garden in her first ikebana. Because of their cascading nature she threaded the base of the leaves through the holes in a curled Monstera leaf, and then into a kenzan. A colour focus was achieved by using a single fading leaf that had a warm light-brown colouring.

In her second ikebana Christine used one fresh and three dried Bird's nest fern Asplenium nidus leaves. The dried leaves are especially hard to secure because the base of the stem invariably has a sharp "U" curve.

Ellie's first ikebana did not photograph well because of the dark colour of the leaf on the left. Ellie said she was particularly interested in emphasising the space between the two leaves. 

In her second ikebana Ellie focused on the colour and pattern variation on the surfaces of three leaves. The fourth leaf provides a counter movement to balance the other three leaves.

This week I was keen to use some of the Strelitzia juncea flowers in the garden before they were damaged by the rain.

The triangle of green lines is made from two stems with the minute leaf margins of this particular form of Strelitzia. I had previously created this triangular form as a mock-up for the recent exhibition of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School. However, in the event, I did not use the idea as I did not have suitable flowers because the Strelitzia plant in the garden had not yet flowered. I have used five flowers in a vertically-tapering form that repeats the overall design. The two tallest flowers face forward and back respectively to achieve the tapering.

The vessel is a mid-20th century Japanese vase.

Greetings from Christopher
30th November 2024

 

BANKSIA SPECIOSA

The annual exhibition for 2024 finished yesterday, Saturday 23rd November, with a demonstration presented by Aileen Duke, the Deputy Director of the Victorian Branch. Photos of the final weeks of the exhibition will be posted in due course.

Classes with my students have started again for the fourth term of 2024.

Jacqueline's exercise was to make a floor-based arrangement which is to be viewed from above. She used a branch of Camellia and two Monstera leaves. 

Two partially hidden, salmon-coloured Carnations Dianthus caryophyllus, provided a contrasting colour.

In Torquay, I had set my students the exercise of making an ikebana that used three different types of flowers and large leaves.

Marta used a Monstera leaf through which she threaded dark red Rose campion Silene coronaria, flowers, two stems of Matchstick Bromeliad Aechmea gamosepala, and two pink Scabiosa flowers.

Coralie's ikebana started out more complicated than this final appearance. The three flowers in two separate vessels are, on the left: Strelitzia reginae, and at its base Kniphofia; on the right: an opening bud of Agapanthus in front of a Strelitzia leaf.

Pamela used two Monstera leaves, a Strelitzia flower, two dark purple Petunias and a trail of Nasturtians Tropaeolum at the base.

Lyn used a single small Monstera leaf with two curving stems of Matchstick Bromeliad, Statice Limonium partially hidden on the left and a Leucospermum completely hidden on the right (sorry wrong camera angle).

My ikebana is from the second week of the Annual Exhibition of the Victorian Sogetsu Branch which took place in the City Of Whitehorse Artspace Gallery.

 

I had paticularly wanted to use these large seed heads of Showy Banksia B. speciosa. They are very eye-catching because of their size, and are attractive close up when you can see that the seed capsule is covered with warm brown velvety fur. The long leaves are thin and saw-toothed. 

In the previous week senior members of the Branch had been given the opportunity to use vessels from the City of Whitehorse Ceramic Collection. We were required to use a different vessel in the second week.

My challenge was this very highly-decorated vessel by the Victorian ceramicist Chris Pittard. Fortunately, my material was more subtly coloured and did not conflict too much with the vessel. Also, the vessel was large and heavy which meant it could support the weight of the material. To emphasise the seed heads, and keep the vase from toppling over, I have kept them very low in the vessel. A line of two thin branches gives a sense of movement to the ikebana. The leafy material in the middle is Eucalyptus macrocarpa. These leaves are a blue-grey however, I was unable to correct the colour balance of the photo.

Greetings from Christopher
24th November 2024

MASSED EXPRESSION

This week Roadside Ikebana comes to you from Adelaide, South Australia. We came to visit a long-standing friend of Laurie's whom we have not seen for several years. While here we visited the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia.

 

There is a current exhibition of Glass work by Dale Chihuly. The photo above shows just one of the out-door sculptural installations of blown glass by this 81 year old artist.I was particularly intrigued by the fixing of the approximately 3m tall red glass spear-like forms. They were set in large, randomly arranged logs, as well as in the surrounding soil. To my eyes the whole installation had a decidedly "ikebana feel".

If you have an opportunity to visit Adelaide before 29th April next year this exhibition is certainly worth a visit.

Following the workshops conducted by Master Instructor Kosa Nishiyama a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, there was much discussion among my students about what they had learnt. 

Jo especially wanted to revise the exercise of making an 'Ikebana incorporating paper'. In our discussion I suggested that it was important to think about the particular properties of paper. In the ikebana above, Jo has rolled irregular lengths and widths of  brown paper strips. These she has arranged in a tumbled-looking fashion. A single red Callistemon flower provides a textural and colour contrast. The vertical wall of the suiban is made from a single strip of clay that wraps around the base and harmonises with the paper in form and colour.

Maree's exercise was to make a sculptural form using "unconventional" (man-made) materials only. The principal lines are made from malleable garden stakes made with coconut fibre which harmonise well with the form of the unusual vase. She has added a cone of bright-pink thick rubber matting, within which sits a ball of thick green cord. On the black mat is a ball made from papier-mâché. 

The senior members of the class were asked to make an ikebana using massed materials only. This was inspired by an article about "Mass" in the Winter 2023 edition of the Sogetsu Magazine. The Iemoto, Akane Teshigahara, referred back to the expression of mass created by Sofu Teshigahara. In this expression of mass, the undulating surface is dense without gaps between the elements. It is also comprised of a variety of materials.

Ellie created this ikebana witn Chrysanthemum, Tea tree Leptospermum, Smoke bush Cotinus and Queen Ann's lace Daucus carota.

In her ikebana Christine used Lisianthus Eustoma, Geranium, Tea tree Leptospermum (I think) and Aeonium.

Maureen used Smokebush Cotinus, Leucadendron, Marigold Calendula officinalis and Red valerian Valeriana ruber.  She suggested that I photograph the ikebana from above as the arrangement looked more dense from this angle.

As this was the first time I set my students an ikebana arrangement of Mass according to the revised definition, I presented two examples.

I made this "Massed expression" ikebana with leftover materials, as an experiment in a tall vessel. It has only three materials  perhaps too few for the exercise.

My principal demonstration example has five materials gathered from the garden. On the left is a mass of gumnuts from a red flowering Corymbia ficifolia. At the front is a small mass of Aeonium rosettes. A larger mass of Aeonium flowers curves around from the right to the back of the arrangement. It passes around the darker green mass of Echium flowers gone to seed. In the middle at the back is mass of red Valerian also gone to seed. The ikebana vessel is a high sided ceramic box. 

My critique of both of my arrangements is that I did not leave a space at the mouth of the vessel. I had prepared the masses that afternoon and the demonstration was the first time I had actually made this arrangement. 

Greetings from Christopher
18th November 2024

AFTERNOON WORKSHOP

Last Friday I was delighted to come across this Echidna searching for ants and other insects in a nearby garden.

 Recent warm weather has brought them out of their winter hiding places. Sadly, we have not seen 'Spike' in our garden since last year. 

In late August I posted this photo of Eucalyptus preissiana in a garden we pass on our way to the local coffee shop.

These are the new seed pods forming, now that the flowers have finished. I was rather surprised by the colours of fresh green and red centres. 

The wind-down and returning to our usual routines is an on-going process following the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School. However, we are nearly there. Thus, the lateness of this posting

At the afternoon workshop presented by Nishiyama sensei on 2nd November, the theme was "Disassembling and rearranging" of the materials. My materials, provided by the Victorian Branch, were Heliconia psittacorum  and a Fan palm. The exact type was not identified. I decided to make this ikebana in a suiban. This meant the work should be seen on a low table. I altered the appearance of the palm leaves arranging them within the vessel. I also deconstructed two Heliconia flowers and used them as elements of contrasting colour. Nishiyama sensei's critique was a question. Did I deliberately not put water in the vessel? The honest answer was no. I am afraid by that stage of the day I had become quite tired and vague.

The first two of our four consecutive weeks of exhibition have concluded today. Here is a link to photographs taken by Lei Wang of the first week. 

Greetings from Christopher

11th November 2024