It has been very wintery here this last week; cold, wet and windy. However, there have been moments of sunshine and, as I write, the sunshine is flooding into the living room.
During one of those sunny spells we had a walk along the creek path. To my surprise we saw this Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo, quite low down in a tree. They seem to be a bit skittish when they are surprised in our garden. However, this female moved closer toward us along the branches, chomping through small branches as she moved. I must admit I felt somewhat intimidated by the demonstration of her beak's power and decided to continue walking!
In my Melbourne class...
...Eugenia made an ikebana using bare branches and contrasted them with fresh material. In this case deep red Asiatic Lilies. Her almost square box-shaped vessel is one she made at the Sogetsu Kiln in Echizen. It has a vertical slit at the top left which is helping support the branch which is outside the vessel.
Marcia made a vertical ikebana arrangement with tall straight Oak Quercus, branches which had faded autumn leaves. She added a small floral focus of Jonquils Narcissus jonquilla.
Marisha also made a vertical ikebana using Leucadendron. The bunch of mostly straight stems also included some smaller stems that had grown sideways which were placed to the left of the main line.
Jacqueline made an ikebana with Jasmine Jasminum officinale vine, and a small mass of White Narcissus. The flowers are set above and below the waterline and contained between two crossbars of Narcissus stems. The two glass vessels allow the vine to 'float' in a naturalistic manner.
In the garden...
...the prostrate Cootamundra wattle Acacia baileyana, has started to flower. These Acacias are one of the joys of winter as the yellow of this particular form is very vibrant and abundant. I decided to use it for my ikebana this week as I missed the opportunity last winter.
Naturally the lines of this form lend themselves to being set in a tall vessel. I chose this tall vase by Pippin Drysdale to create a one-material ikebana. Although there is a single mass cascading forward I have used two principal branches to achieve the desired volume to balance with the vase.
Greetings from Christopher
20th July 2024
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