CURVING LINES on the FIRST DAY OF SPRING

Over the last several days we have had extremely windy weather. Being on the south coast we are subject to prevailing westerly winds, particularly in the winter months. However, the last few days have been unusually windy across Victoria. 

When we finally got out for a walk yesterday afternoon we were fortunate to miss the rain that produced this arc of a rainbow. While we were watching the waves roll in... 

...the arc became a full end-to-end rainbow. No evidence of pots of gold, just a beautiful sight produced by the afternoon sun behind us.

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago in fact, Maree practised using a vertical fixture to stabilise her quite horizontal branch of Monterey pine Pinus radiata. This is a technique for a nageire arrangement, that is: an ikebana made in a tall, usually straight sided, vase. 

This technique is particularly useful when the weight of a branch causes it to rotate away from the desired angle. In this particular arrangement the Hikae line, projecting forward on the right, is made using branch material instead of flowers. The flowers have been placed in the centre of the ikebana, creating a central mass that visually holds the work together. 

Jo's exercise was to make a hanging ikebana Kakebana, that can be placed against a wall. She commented that there was a lot of sailing experience in the family, so that she was familiar with the technique of looping rope for storing. She has secured  a lemon branch so that two fruit are nestling within the loop. 

Anne's exercise was Slanting variation No 2 in a suiban. Her materials are blossoming branches of Prunus and some pink roses for the Hikae line. The flattening effect of the photograph disguises the fact that the branches and flowers are extending forward.

I had set the advanced students the exercise of making an ikebana arrangement with both straight and curving lines.

Maureen used as her principal material a curving dried branch from a Fig tree that had become a soft maroon colour. She has created a colour harmony with the 'Peach sticks' for her straight line and some yellow Clivia berries

Because it was very dry, the curving branch could not be inserted into the kenzan. 

The solution to this problem is to insert stems of fresh material on either side of the dried stem, to which it is wired. The small stem on the right in the kenzan is maintaining the desired angle of the main branch.

 

Christine used a single long curving line of a very flexible material, then also used 'Peach sticks' for the straight line component. Arum lilies Zantedeschia aethiopica, make the floral focus. In the class my comment about this ikebana was that the curving line looked like a basket handle, especially because of the bowl shape of the vase. The nature of the curving line was that it would straighten out if both ends were not secured.

 

Ellie used a straight, but naturally-kinked line of bamboo. Her curving lines are of finely shredded New Zealand Flax Phormium, which creates a soft mass.

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In the garden the Crucifix orchid Epidendrum radicans  is finally in the right place and is doing well. I decided to use it as the focus in a simple ikebana.

Long ago, in my pre-ikebana days, I bought this tall grey-glass specimen vase, which continues to be useful for single flowers. On this occasion I first placed a partially shredded Aspidistra leaf finding the best angle to show the graceful lines. The leaf leans toward the front and the shredded section falls in looping curves. The orchid inflorescence is placed at the rear. 

In retrospect, I think I should have used two stems of the flowers to make the mass bigger.

Greetings from Christopher
1st September 2024