THE NATURAL UNIVERSE

I finally managed to photograph one of the fairly frequent visitors to our garden a couple of days ago, an adult Crimson Rosella. 

These intensely-coloured birds do not usually like us humans to get too close. To avoid scaring it I held my camera around a corner to take this photo, keeping most of my body hidden. The rosella was feasting on seeds in the rosemary bush beside the garden path.

Last week my Melbourne students were set the exercise of making an ikebana 'Using pine'.

Aileen made a compromise. Not having access to any pine she substituted a Casuarina branch with an attractive "S" curve in the stem. She added a large Camellia which was placed low and facing three quarters to the side so that it did not dominate the single branch.

Marcia used several stems of Himalayan cedar Cedrus deodara from her garden, which she chose for its weeping habit. She arranged it asymmetrically in a tall vessel with a mass of Hellebores off-centre in the mouth of the vessel.

Marcia kindly shared some of her Cedar branches with Marisha, who also made this ikebana in a tall vessel to show the graceful curves of the branches. Her contrasting flower is an Asiatic lily Lilium. 

Jacqueline used a branch of Cypress Cupressaceae, arranged in a glass vase. She placed a small branch inside the vase, giving a light mass that helped to balance the long curving line coming to the right front. Two stems of 'acid'-yellow carnations complement the curve of the branch.

In late June, Ray Bywaters from South Australia conducted workshops for the Victorian Sogetsu Branch. The theme of the second workshop was 'One leaf one flower'. An ikebana form through which, it is said, it is possible to represent the natural universe. 

Ray encouraged us to think about this idea and to add a twist that would make it a Sogetsu work. For my ikebana I used a late Hydrangea and a single variegated Aspidistra leaf. The Hydrangea is only slightly visible and the leaf has been manipulated into a zig-zagging form.

I re-used the leaf when I came home in a different vase and with some Asiatic Lilies. Of course, this ikebana no longer conforms to the exercise Ray had set, because there are two flowers.

The narrow vase is by the Japanese-Australian ceramic artist Hiroe Swen.

Greetings from Christopher

4th August 2024