Early last week, as I was hanging out the washing, a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was a small bird scurrying around the bushes and ground cover. It was obviously eating small insects among the moist leaves, following some recent very welcome rain.
I had seen a small family group of about seven of these birds about six weeks ago in the garden. They were completely new to me and I learnt that they are Buff-banded Rails. My photo above, is rather poor having been greatly enlarged.
This is a screen-shot taken from the Wikipedia article about them. They are quite beautifully marked birds and, at this stage in our garden, rather timid.
To ikebana.
At my Geelong class recently, Maree's exercise was, "...paying attention to the vase and the area where the ikebana is placed". In this exercise the student is asked think about the materials extending beyond the vessel. The main focal point of the material is to the side rather than above the vase.
Maree used a large Tsubo vase. The material was a single large Strelitzia reginae leaf and a stem of Oriental lily Lilium with only one bud, the very showy open flowers having been removed. The stems have been aligned so that the bud is cradled by the leaf.
The exercise I set for the senior students was to "use two materials only" in a freestyle ikebana.
Ellie used some Bullrushes Typha orientalis, and some stems of a reed-like grass with a feathery inflorescence. She said that she chose the materials to suit the decoration on her unusual Japanese vessel.
Maureen used some autumn-coloured Manchurian Pear Ussuriensis and colour-matched Grevillea in a hand made bottle-shaped vase.
Helen made a freestanding small-scale abstract sculptural ikebana using only one kind of material. However, she changed the appearance of the elements and used them differently. The three uprights are the stems of a Yucca and the green elements are the detached leaves with their sharp ends cut off.Technically, this was an example of the exercise: "Disassembling and re-arranging the materials".
My ikebana was made at a Sogetsu Branch workshop held three weeks ago. The theme was to make an ikebana using an "everyday object" and botanical materials in "Tones of the same colour".
I used a stainless steel Pasta machine, that I had borrowed from a friend with another ikebana purpose in mind. The Pasta machine is placed on its side as it looks slightly more sculptural and its usual function is not immediately apparent. My materials were a re-used Cycad leaf (see last week's posting), a variegated Aspidistra leaf and a head of Hydrangea that had turned a pale green.
Greetings from Christopher.
7th April 2024
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