TROPICAL QUEENSLAND

During this week we spent a few days with some friends in Cairns * in the tropical north of Queensland. Usually this is the dry warm and sunny season; however it was overcast and drizzling every day and steamy, in the high 20s Centigrade. It was a dramatic change, coming back south. This morning's temperature in Torquay was 8C with cold winds and rain. I am not complaining, just contrasting. 

I think the joy for an ikebanist in the tropics is the lushness of growth and the extraordinary intensity of colour and range of form in the flora. One of the first plants to visually 'leap out' at me was the Lipstick Palm * (cyrtostachys renda). This example was in the median strip of a divided road...

           

as was this Cordyline fruiticosa * . 

During a walk through the Cairns Botanic Gardens I was amazed to see the copper colour on the underside of these huge leaves on a Pentagonia Wendlandii from Central America. I also found myself thinking about exercises in the Sogetsu Curriculum...

...including: 'Colours in contrast' and...

...' With leaves only'.

This photo is a close up of the trunk of a broad-leaved paper bark * (Melaleuca quinquenervia). The lines of colour have been exaggerated by visitors peeling fine strips of the tissue thin bark. It made me think about lines, as I mentioned in last week's posting, as well as the importance of varying texture in ikebana.

 

This large flower was growing directly from the trunk of the Panama Flame Tree * (brownea macrophylla).

I think this would have to be the largest pitcher plant that I have ever seen.

Above is one of the most extraordinary heliconia I have come across. Masses of large, hanging, multiple flowers. 

The conservatory contained unblemished exotic plants because the caterpillars of the indigenous butterflies that floated through the air are unable to feast on any of them.

      

     

    

Unfortunately this week's ikebana is not tropical.

I have arranged orange Asiatic lilies with some acanthus leaves and drift wood in a ceramic suiban  by the New Zealand potter, Elena Renka * . 

Greetings from Christopher, recently returned from Cairns.
23rd July 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information

VARIOUS LINES

I am surprised to see that the Swan River Pea (Gastrolobium celsianum) * in the garden is flowering earlier this year, and the Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia Baileyana) * is late.  It occurs to me that this may be a consequence of some rather heavy rains we have received early in Winter following a rather dry summer and Autumn.

The Swan River Pea, looks quite wonderful with the sun shining through its translucent beak-shaped flowers. 

The red Callistemon * has also suddenly flowered. I suspect it has done so because I pruned it rather hard about a month ago.

Nearby the Banksia Integrifolia * is also flowering. 

*          *          *          *

I have come to the conclusion that ikebana design starts with an appreciation of line, and once we have line we immediately create space; that is, the spaces on either side of the line or between lines. 

My first ikebana teacher always encouraged me to 'study the materials' and I find it is common for new students to comment on the fact that they find themselves looking at the world of nature with different eyes after only a few classes. So it was yesterday, as I sat having my lunch, I noticed the beautiful curving lines of the furled bud of a cyclamen flower. 

Lines are everywhere in the botanical world and each has its own qualities,which create a unique feeling when you stop to contemplate them.

In the class I attended this week, the exercise we were set was an arrangement using a variety of branch materials. At this time of year there is an opportunity to show the branch lines of deciduous trees. I have used apricot and fig tree branches and contrasted them with some Cootamundra Wattle. The latter picks up the grey of the fig rather well. The vase is by the Canadian, Sogetsu ikebanist and ceramic artist, Janet Keefe.

Those of you who know my teacher Elizabeth Angell will be pleased to learn that she has returned to teaching after a bout of ill health.

Greetings from Christopher
17th July 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information

SOGETSU INSPIRED SCULPTURE

Sofu Teshigahara, the founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, was an artist whose output encompassed a wide range of media. In addition to his ikebana works, using botanical materials, he also was an accomplished potter and a sculptor who worked with wood, stone, metal, found objects and mixed media.

For students of the Sogetsu school, working in a variety of media gives us a deeper understanding of artistic expression and encourages us to look beyond the surface appearance of materials, including those from the botanical realm. There is a very interesting 1/2 hour documentary of Sofu * on Youtube, that explores the range of his output and his approach as an artist and teacher. 

A week ago Emily Karanikolopoulos and her sister Lucy Papas lead a workshop for the local Sogetsu Branch on the topic: 'That which cannot be expressed by plants (by using inorganic materials only)'; an exercise in learning about sculpture, using principles we have learnt from our ikebana studies.

Above is an example of Emily's work, from last year's Sogetsu exhibition in Melbourne, emphasising strong geometry and surface texture.

This is my experiment from the workshop. I have used fine, square-meshed wire formed into two cones, one inverted against the other. I then looped some grey tubing so that it was spilling out from one of the cones. I really like the way the overlapping of the mesh creates an airy, rippling effect and is contrasted by the 

mass of the dark tubing coils.

More photos from the workshop * can be seen through this link.

I would like to draw attention to an exhibition Japanese Bamboo: baskets, sculpture and other artefacts * in the Pauline Gandel Gallery of Japanese Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. It is on for the next month only. Don't miss it if you are in Melbourne.

Greetings from Christopher

10th July 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information.

WINTER IN TORQUAY

Thank you to Margaret Hall and Gwen Delves for identifying last weeks photo of a Nankeen Kestrel * . It is good to know there are some serious birdwatchers among our ikebanists!

I am not intending to turn this blog into a regular report of our local fauna. However, I was really surprised to see a pelican wading in Spring Creek at Torquay on Thursday last. A unique sighting in this location. 

Apologies about the poor quality of the photos. They were taken on a mobile phone. 

Four weeks ago I posted the photo below of our apricot losing its autumn foliage.

               

Now the transition is complete and the tree is completely bare. However, there are a few flowers to be found in the garden. Unfortunately most of the Pincushion Hakea * ( H. Laurina) has been damaged by the rain. 

    

I found this one sheltered under a thick thatch of leaves.

         

Along the garden path the rosemary is flowering well and in a few weeks will provide a colour contrast to the Cootamundra Wattle (acacia baileyana) further up the path.

And one of my seasonal favourites, the red flowering, Japanese Quince (chaenomeles) has its first flowers for this winter. 

I am looking forward being able to arrange some stems in a few weeks when more flowers have come out.

This week's ikebana is a second re-working of the tortuous willow I used in the Sogetsu Exhibition in May. The willow is in a dimly-lit, unheated part of the house and has not grown any more leaves yet. I have added three very cool looking arum lilies for my winter arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher

3rd July 2016

VERTICAL ARRANGEMENT

It has been very chilly and wet this past week; so when the sun did break through we took the opportunity to go for a walk outside.  We were surprised to see this bird beside the path near the beach. I think it is a square tailed kite * , however I would welcome identification from an authority. The bird seemed to have just caught an insect or possibly a mouse when we surprised it as we walked passed. It looks strange in the photos as it turned its head completely around to look at us over its back.

     

This week for my Melbourne students I demonstrated a shin arrangement that my first teacher taught, usually using irises. In the new Sogetsu curriculum it is taught as a 'Vertical Arrangement'. It is important that there is a strong sense of upward movement is this arrangement.

I had to prune quite a number of leaves as well as buds which were too horizontal and interrupted the upward reach. I have used oriental lilies and some dwarf nandina domestica * at the base. The early morning sunlight and shadow contributes to the vertical feeling. The ceramic suiban is by Jane Barrow.

Greetings from Christopher
26th June 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information.

FURTHER PHOTOS from the LAST CLASS of TERM TWO

The weather is wintery as I write this, though less cold the last couple of days because of some welcome rain. In our climate, and with the way Australian flora has evolved *, winter does not mean only bare branches everywhere. Australia is notable for its very small number of deciduous plants, so in our winter there is always plenty of green to be seen. Below are some photos I have just taken in the garden. 

A raindrop hanging from a stub on a rose bush. This reveals bad pruning, I know.

Rain on leaves of the same bush, Rosa Cécile Brünner  * .

A tiny spider in its web. 

Branches of a corky-barked Allocasuarina torulosa * reflected in the water of the bird bath.

Last week I posted photos of my students winter arrangements showing the surface of water. This week's photos are of their arrangements that show the transparency of water using glass vases.

Helen has arranged a lichen-encrusted branch with gypsophila and a red anthurium focal point. 

Ellie arranged three vessels. Two with autumn leaves and one with a bare branch.

I thought the single plane tree leaf in the glass cube looked particularly striking. It made me think of a block of ice. 

Maureen arranged a single, large stem of Fatsia Japonica * (aralia japonica). This branch seemed to be arranged effortlessly, creating lovely arching lines and spaces with a loose mass on the righthand side.

Photos from the June meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter * have also been published.

Greetings from Christopher
18th June 2016

* Click on the blue text for further information.

LAST CLASS for TERM II

On Thursday I held the last class for this term in Geelong. My four junior students were working on Book 1 exercises. Below is their work from the class.

Tess made a moribana 'slanting variation #1', using acacia baileyana and yellow chrysanthemums.

Helen M. made a moribana 'upright variation #2' using unidentified branch material and arum lilies.

Andrea made a moribana 'reversed basic upright' arrangement using oak and dutch iris iris x hollandica * ...

...as did Jo.

Christine said her first work was inspired by noticing a pool of water on the covering of a utility truck tray and leaves scattered on its surface. She has used the base of a palm frond and a single autumn leaf.

Returning to my Winter theme of last week: 
At the class I had set my senior students the combined exercise of 'making a winter arrangement' and 'emphasising water'. The students did this in two ways, one was to focus on the surface of the water and the other to focus on the transparent aspect of water. The photos below are of the first kind.

Ellie used a suiban with a dark glaze, which allows the surface reflection to show more clearly. She placed an interesting piece of tree-root across the suiban and added a cool white camellia. Two small petals float on the surface of the water.

Helen made two arrangements. In the first she used a deep bowl by Barry Singleton * , with a copper red glaze, and floated three small white roses on the water surface.

In her second work she has used a bowl by Graeme Wilkie * . She placed a piece of driftwood on the edge and contrasted it with two ornamental Kale heads.

Christine said her first work was inspired by noticing a pool of water on the covering of a utility truck tray and leaves scattered on its surface. She used the base of a palm frond to hold a small pool of water and floated a single leaf on the surface.

In a second 'minimal' work she arranged a stem of quince, stretching over the surface of water in a blue suiban.

Maureen arranged some branches of small pomegranates and Japanese maple leaves in a suiban with an inner orange glaze.

   
The morning after the class, she sent me this delightful photo of her second work taken in early morning light. Red grape-vine leaves and small green chrysanthemums lit from behind.

Lastly I am pleased to report that, after a silence of 1 year and 3 days, Lennart Persson has published a new posting on his Nordic Lotus blog on the subject of Chabana * .

Greetings from Christopher
11th June 2016

WINTER CHANGES

The 1st June marks the beginning of winter in our part of the world. After a warm and mostly rather dry autumn we have finally had some cool weather and good rain. The rain has meant the conditions in the garden are right to do some weeding before things get out of control. Below are some late autumn - early winter images I captured between bouts of weeding.

  

The apricot leaves have suddenly started to turn yellow and fall. There is a good chance they will all be on the ground by the end of the next fortnight.

I have recently planted some nasturtiums and was delighted to see raindrops caught within the gently dished leaves.

An interesting surprise was this scabiosa with what looks like new flowerheads that are entirely green.

  

This pink flower was one of the last ones in the garden at the end of autumn.

  

The correa, Dusky bells, beside the path has also responded well to the recent rain.

In keeping with the change of season I set some students the exercise of making a 'winter arrangement'. For my demonstration I chose a lichen covered branch that I placed across a suiban and contrasted with an intense red geranium from the garden.

Greetings from Christopher 
5th June 2016