Masterclass No. 5

 

Hello all,

For today's masterclass I postponed my original plans in order to take advantage of some special material that came my way. I mentioned in my last post that Vicky and Peter brought me some silver birch branches, which had been cut by their neighbours and, which I have, already, used in a couple of arrangements. The following week Vicky rang me to tell me that there were more branches cut and lying on the footpath. So I sent the ever accommodating Sam over to pick them all up, thus providing me with enough material for a workshop.

I had a large branch for each participant, which was allocated by lottery, and I gave them free reign to do what they wanted with them. I instructed them to pick a container, optional, and I had two buckets with fresh materials, from which they could choose, again, optional.

The arrangement, above, was done by a new member of our group, Cym Reeves. I don't think it requires much explanation. I feel it speaks for itself.

I love it when a student gets out of his or her comfort zone. Case in point, the very large  arrangement, below, was done by Nicole, who very rarely does big arrangements. But she was very happy with this one. It is designed to be sitting forward on a table or pedestal, so that the birch cascades in front. The green material is a conifer (name unknown), which she used with the iris.

Sue did the next arrangement, going for height with the striking white colour of the stems contrasting with the heavy dark container. The two iris were just enough to complete the piece.

Just like Nicole's, Jenny's large, dynamic piece was quite challenging to photograph. We had to do some improvisation.

Akemi's arrangement was also difficult to photograph, not because of its size but because of its colour. I took the first photo against a dark background but wasn't happy with it.

Then I took it against a white background and I was still not entirely happy. I would have liked something in between.

Christine chose not to use a container and to have her structure free standing. She used a couple of monstera deliciosa leaves to complete the piece. She used vials with water for the leaves, discretely placed so as not to be visible.

Lucy used two tall, glass vases. There was no need for fresh materials as there was enough interest and movement in the way she cut and placed the birch.

When everyone left and after a little rest, I went back into the studio because I was itching to get my hands onto some branches. I had, selfishly, kept some smaller but thicker branches and I wanted to play with them. I made the structure, below.  I shuld point out that the soft, cascading stems are draping forward.

I, then, decided to go a little further and do the exercise in Book 5, Composition with Branches - A Two-step Approach. In this lesson we are required to create a structure that is free standing using branches and then to use a container and fresh materials with it. I challenged myself to make do with whatever was left over in the buckets. Luckily, I like the blue of the iris against the white of the birch.

Bye for now,

Emily