Hello all,

The above arrangement has the theme 'In a suiban without a kenzan'. I made it using leaves rather than branches as a way to challenge myself. And, yes, it was quite a challenge to get the leaves to hold each other up by feeding them through slits. The difficulty was to keep this 'feeding' to a minimum to avoid clutter. I used flax leaves and gymea leaves, which are considerably smaller than usual because these grow along the flower stem. Their smaller size can be quite useful.  And I was delighted to discover four flower stems in the clump.

I mentioned the garrya eliptica in my last post but I can't resist using it again whilst I have it. The arrangement on the left is quite tall, over a metre in height. I used an old piece of tortuous willow, spayed black and 'Brushfield's Yellow' camellias with the garrya. The tall, glass vase is one that I and other colleagues bought a very long time ago, whilst studying with our teacher, Carlyne Patterson. It's been sitting in the very back of my storeroom, out of reach and, thus, not been used as much now as it has been in the past. It's hard to guage size from the photos but the wall arrangement, to the right, is about half the size of the other one.

The previous Saturday I felt I had to come to the defence of ikebana. I'm a regular listener to the ABC radio gardening program. One of the guest gardeners is Steven Ryan, a very knowledgeable nursery man. He made a comment which, I suspect, was tongue in cheek but, which is something many people would believe. He was discussing the red stemmed dogwood, Cornus Siberica Alba and said that people who do ikebana would like it because 'they use a rock, a stick and a flower'. I needed to dispel that notion so I made a couple of arrangements, photographed them and sent them via text to the program the following Saturday. Unfortunately, I had an appointment to get to and didn't hear the whole program and don't know if any mention was made of them but I'm happy I made the effort.

I created asymmetric triangles with the dogwood and massed them but couldn't decide which flower was best to use with the structure. So, I photographed both.

The other arrangement is one with a branch of the dogwood that I had manipulated whilst it was growing and ended with this interesting swirl of lines. The colour of the leucadendrons seemed fortuitous, since they were all the flowers I had.

A couple of dried strelitzia leaves lying around in my work room were put to good use, together with the first of my arum lilies.

I cut these grevillea flowers from a shrub outside the pathologist's rooms when I was last there. It goes without saying that I got permission first. They lend themselves best to naturalistic arrangements, hence the bamboo basket. The dietes leaves provide the lines.

We've had quite a few days of miserable weather but I happened to be outside just as the sun peaked through and I noticed the iridescent quality of the wet moss on this rock. I had to take a photo. Sadly, my photographic skills leave a lot to be desired. But I'm learning.

And, just a recap on the story of my sculpture. I had an email from the purchaser, who included photographs of the piece in its final home. I was absolutely delighted to have my work displayed in such an elegant setting. It seems to suit the space very well.

Bye for now,
Emily