MAKING SOMETHING OLD, NEW AND FRESH

The theme set by one of the students for the second-last Geelong class, was to make "a table arrangement without using flowers"; an interesting and slightly counter-intuitive theme given the lead up to Christmas time.

Maureen's arrangement included red Eucalyptus stems that were stripped of their leaves to show the colour and the small clusters of green flower buds. The other materials are Smoke bush Cotinus and Nandina berries.

Helen arranged Lime Citrus fruit in small wine glasses with bunches of Rosemary Salvia rosemarinum. She had wired the Rosemary together with copper giving a subtle sparkle to the green masses.

 

Christine used red=painted dry New Zealand Flax  Phormium leaves with fresh leaves and a mass of blue-painted fine vine-like stems. 

Helen also arranged a single stem of Grape vine Vitis that floated horizontally above the table surface. A bunch of red grapes sits among the leaves and two Plums Prunus subg. Prunus sit on the table.

Using a unique moulded-glass vessel, Ellie arranged coloured Dracaena leaves, shredded Aspidistra and some branches with small maroon leaves.

Maree's exercise was to make an ikebana "in a suiban without using a kenzan". She used three Manchurian pear Pyrus ussuriensis branches and an unidentified branch with green leaves. A single large pink Hydrangea sat low within the suiban.

At the beginning of December I attended a Sogetsu meeting where the presenter set the theme with the following instruction: Find something old and make it fresh with your ikebana. Where to start? After thinking of many possibilities I remembered that in the bottom of the sideboard was a silver epergne. It is an art nouveau table-centre designed to hold flowers, that was a wedding present of my father's parents who were married in 1910. 

In my childhood it occasionally held Geraniums. I remember them looking like a series of posies. Thanks to my ikebana lessons I now know that there are other possibilities. Ikebana has given me the knowledge that I do not have be limited by the vessel.

This is the ikebana I made at the workshop. I found it quite exciting that I could make a more expansive arrangement. I have used three stems of Umbrella grass and some Queen Anne's Lace Daucus carota flowers. The Umbrella grass Cyperus alternifolius stems both extend and unify the arrangement. 

Three weeks later I re-created the ikebana on the dining table at home as my Christmas table centre.

This link will take you to other photos from the last workshop for 2024. 

Wishing you a happy and safe New Year for 2025.

Greetings from Christopher

29th December 2024

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