Hello all,

I've just returned from a much needed short holiday in Broome. The weather was perfect, the sunsets breathtaking and the beach unsurpassed. The tropical vegetation at the resort was a delight for the eyes of a southern gardener like me and I took quite a few photographs but I will only share the one above - Sturts Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa). It's the first time I've seen one actually growing and was delighted when I came across it.

 A few weeks ago for class we did a workshop on 'Relief'. This is something we had not done before but which everyone seemed to enjoy. Some of us had so many ideas that it was difficult to settle on one, so,we didn't.

Vicky experimented with plaster and created the following three pieces.

Bredenia used dodda vine and nandina berries.

Margaret used black boxes and pine needles that she coloured pink.

Helen used bark and crepe paper with fine copper wire.

Robyn used a lichen-covered branch with metal and string. You would have seen this piece in my previous post as part of the Sogetsu exhibition.

Janette used dried aspidistra leaves, metal and plastic.

Lucy used black gift wrapping ribbon for this piece,

And for our workshop she used pine needles for her relief, which I felt was was such a good idea that I encouraged her to make a larger one for the Sogetsu exhibition.

 As for me, for my first attempt, I used weeping willow stems with this  "fork" form together with nandina berries.

For my second attempt, I wanted to use my bamboo again in a completely different way.

And for this last one, I used cardboard that I had to split apart to reveal the corrugation pattern inside, not an easy task! 

One of the great pleasures of teaching Ikebana is seeing the different styles and interpretations of themes that each students brings to the class. I feel that the variety of the above work proves my point.

Until next time,

Emily