Happy Easter to all Orthodox Christians celebrating today.
4 years ago we lost a beloved aunt and before her house was sold I took a
small root of her strelitzia plant. This is the first flower.

I wanted to announce the exhibition that the Sogetsu School of Ikebana Victorian Branch will be holding:

East & West Art Gallery

665 High Street, East Kew

Dates: 2/5/16 to 15/5/16

Hours:

Monday - Friday 11.00 am to 5.00 pm

Saturday 11.00 am to 4.30 pm

Official opening 2/5/16, 6.30 - 7.30 pm

The theme is 'Autumn' and promises to be quite interesting, so we would love to see as many people as possible.

This is my exhibit photographed at home as it will be behind glass and difficult
to photograph in situ

At the moment I have my left hand in a cast after it was operated on a couple of days ago and am typing with just my right index finger. It's a bit cumbersome but I'm persevering since I have a lot of time, due to my inability to do many other things.

You may remember, in a previous post, I included a photo of a possum that has made our window sill her home. I thought she was a Common Brush tail but on closer inspection, she is a Common Ring tail possum and, if you look very closely, you will see that she is suckling two babies. I had a lot of difficulty photographing them in this tight and dark space. Where is David Attenborough when you need him?

On the 9th and 10th April, three days after we returned from Japan, Yoshiro Umemura was here to run workshops with our group. I, very hastily, managed to prepare four arrangements but I was not able to take many good photographs, so I direct you to our website where Christopher James has, once again, done a wonderful job of taking, editing and posting our photos.

My example of 'Mass Focusing on Water'
I used massed pine needles and one leucodendron flower

Lucy Papas' example of the same theme. To be viewed from above.
She used Eucaliptus Seed pods and begonia leaves

And now some photos from class:

'Composition of  Surfaces by using Leaves'

'Shape of the Container'

The above, delicious looking cakes were made by two students - Vicky Kalokathis, from the evening class, made the passionfruit congratulatory one. And Nicole McDonald, from the afternoon class, made the cranberry cake to celebrate both my promotion and Helen Novic's 90th birthday. It was a delightful surprise for us all to enjoy.

That's all from me for now,

Until next time,

Emily