Simplified Arrangements

 

Hello all,

For last week's class I set the theme for the advanced students of 'A  Simplified Arrangement'. This exercise is a lot more nuanced than it, at first, appears. The aim is to trim the material that's being used to the point that only the bare elements are left, necessary for the material to be recognisable. 

The tomarilo branch below, was my starting point for the arrangement, above. I removed everything except one fruit and one leaf. The choice of container is also very important, as it is another element of the arrangement. This, wine coloured glass vase seemed ideal.

I made a second such arrangement, below. This time I had a very large fern frond, which I trimmed down to approximately one twentieth of the original size of the frond. I used with it a long stemmed crucifix orchid in a small ceramic container.

I'd like to point out that there is a subtle difference between a 'Simple' and a 'Simplified' arrangement. A 'Simplified' arrangement is created by the arranger by simplifying the material, as I explained, above. A 'simple' arrangement can be made with any material and may require little intervention. The example below is of a simple arrangement. I found the aeonium broken and fallen on the ground. I did nothing to it except work out the mechanics needed for it to sit on the container. And, just to put you minds at ease, there are roots where the stem was resting on the ground, which are now in the container. I used wire to secure it in place.

After a discussion in class and my explanation of the theme, the students had to rethink what they had planned to make and in the process made some really beautiful work.

Jenny used a single, yellow banksia, on the stem of which she left only one leaf. The matching, ceramic container was an appropriate choice.

Vicky used a single anthurium and a single stem of Siberian dogwood in a slate container made by her clever husband, Peter.

Lucy used a strelitzia reginae leaf, which she stripped back leaving a small portion at the centre of the leaf and placed a single camellia to the back, peaking over the top.

Nicole used an interestingly shaped stem of nandina domestica with only one leaf left on it and a small jonquil, from which she removed all but one of the individual flowers. She, also, chose her container well.

Bredenia chose to make a freestyle arrangement, as she wanted to use her cymbidium orchids. Vicky had brought some kiwi vine for everyone, which came in very handy for Bredenia. She used a strong, ceramic container.

Mary's revision theme was 'A Horizontal Arrangement'. She used rhododendron branches and hellebores flowers in a ceramic vase.

In my 11th July post I spoke of the workshops which were run by Vernisher Woo. The photos from that workshop are now on our website, posted by our indefatigable director, Christopher James. Please click on the link to view.

https://sogetsuikebanavic.weebly.com/recent-workshops).

Bye for now,

Emily

18th July, 2022

 

Hello all,

As I was removing dead leaves from a large strelitzia reginae clump. I noticed the flower, above, that was about to burst out of its sheath. It's my favourite of all of its stages. I stopped my pruning, cut the flower and walked around the garden, looking for accompanying material. I settled on the agave but I had to  find just the right shape. More searching through the three different clumps of very thorny agaves until I found the one that pleased me most. My haste was due to the fact that the flower was threatening to open at any minute and I wanted to photograph it before it did. As it turned out, it wan't until the next day that it flowered fully. The arrangement still looks great, more than a week later.

At our Ikebana International meeting we were asked to make arrangements using unusual materials. My garden is a little bit bare this time of year but my haemanthus lily leaves, which are growing in a pot, are doing very well so I cut a couple and played with them. The peacock feathers were recently given to me by my student, Maren Buckett, who is decluttering. The bamboo container, apart from being aesthetically appropriate, served as a support for the heavy leaf, which could not be held up by the kenzan alone. 

Having cut a second leaf, I had to arrange it, also - waste not and all that! This time I used with it amaranthus and squiggly grass (Juncus effusus spiralis) in a ceramic container. And here's something I discovered recently about amaranthus. These plants self seed in my garden year after year. I've always cut them to use in ikebana but, recently, I pulled them out, roots and all, washed the soil off and placed them in the container. They lasted longer than two weeks.

At our II meeting I got a large piece of black pine (Pinus thunbergii) for the price of a gold coin. The pine was donated by Chieko Yazaki, head of Shogetsudokoryu School, who is lucky enough to have a large tree. 

I cut a side branch and looked at it. The correct way to place pine in an arrangement is with the pine needles pointing up, the way it grows in nature. See placement, below....

.....but I really liked and wanted to feature the tufts of pine needles face on. They look like some alien creature. I snuck  in a Brushfield's Yellow camellia below the branch with some camellia buds to the back, sadly not visible here. The container is some kind of reconstituted stone and, because of its curved shape, is surprisingly stable and is able to hold the heavy branch, whereas other shaped containers of similar size, would not.

 Ah camellias! Nature's gems. 

To the uninitiated, the simple arrangement, below, looks easy to make. Not so. Firstly, an inordinate amount of time is spent in scouring the tree for just the right shaped branches. Then, some judicial trimming has to take place and, lastly, the right size, shape and colour container must be chosen. Then one hopes that the branches will sit in the container as one had envisaged. If not, mechanics have to be employed. And don't even get me started on the pesky leaves that often face the wrong way. Camellias are stunningly beautiful but require years of experience to handle them properly.

My daughter-in-law, Jeannine, very kindly brought me some long, cumquat branches from her parent's place. I knew she was bringing them but I was expecting there would be a lot more fruit on them, as I wanted to use them in a mass. However, the fruit were quite sparse, necessitating a change of plans. I stripped off all the leaves and left only the fruit. I then had to chose the container, taking into account the length and lightness of my material. At the back of the bottom shelf of containers I had these two glass vases, which have holes on the top half. I placed the branches through the holes and added a couple of Kamo Hon Ami camellias, but, unfortunately, in the photo we lose the space between the vases, in which the tall camellia sits comfortably.

Mary's revision lesson this week was 'An Arrangement in Two or More Containers'. She used New Zealand flax leaves split in half and lisianthus in two, triangular suibans.

And now, I hope you will indulge a doting grandmother showing off her amazingly talented grandson. At today's school athletics competitions Xavier brought home 5 ribbons - 3 firsts, 1 second and 1 third. So proud!

Bye for now,

Emily

11th July, 2022

 

Hello all,

Last Saturday Vernisher Wooh came down from Brisbane to run workshops for our Sogetsu group. Vernisher is the 7th recipient of the Norman and Mary Sparnon Endowment scholarship, which provided for her to spend three months in Tokyo in 2019, studying at Headquarters.

Vernisher started the day by sharing with us photographs and experiences of her stay in Japan, which I found particularly interesting as it reminded me of my own experiences there.

We, then, moved to our first theme, which was 'Using Only One Kind of Material'. I chose one of my favourite winter materials - Prunus Mume, Japanese flowering apricot. I chose large branches with tight buds and a couple of smaller ones with fully opened blossoms, which I placed towards the centre of the structure. The arrangement was 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'.

The second theme was 'A Winter Arrangement'. For my arrangement, at the top of this post, I used my other, two favourite materials - Garrya Elliptica and Kamo Hon Ami camellia. The ceramic container is one I made decades ago and is, also, a favourite. 

For class last Wednesday I provided the advanced students with branches of my Prunus Mume as an opportunity to workshop this material, which they may not have used before.

Vicky used a number of small white containers into which she placed a number of different sized branches and refrained from adding any other material. A good example of 'Using Only One Kind of Material'.

Bredenia wanted to revise the lesson 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'. Along with the blossom branches, she used red dogwood (Cornus Siberian Alba), and a single arum lily.

Jenny used her branches vertically and added Oriental lilies in a recently acquired, ceramic vase.

Nicole, also, used a nageire container with her blossom branches and added cymbidium orchids, one stem fully opened and two still in bud.

Lucy used a bamboo container, in which she placed two stems of the blossoms and a draping branch of cootamundra wattle in tight bud.

For her Special Occasions theme, Shaneen chose to celebrate Australia Day. She wrapped paper bark from Melaleuca quinquenervia around a ceramic vase and used in her arrangement Purple Hop Bush, Callistemon citrinus, Wattle, Banksia burdetti, Banksia integrifolia and heather-calluna vulgaris. I feel I have to explain that the arrangement was very pleasing to all of us in the class but, with the loss of depth, the photograph does not do it justice. 

Wendy' curriculum theme was 'Repeating Similar Shapes'. She created shapes using aspidistra leaves in different sizes and added a camellia stem with two flowers in a small, ceramic suiban.

  

Mary's theme was 'Curved and Straight Lines'. She used Siberian dogwood (Cornus Siberica Alba) for the curved lines and bamboo for the straight. For the flowers she used mauve coloured stock. 

Bye for now,

Emily

4th July, 2022

 

Hello all,

I, absolutely, love this red camellia. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out its name. Apart from the perfection of the flowers, I love its pendulous form. The arrangement, above, is an example of using one kind of material. I confess, this material makes the exercise easy.

In my travels this morning, I came across an early flowering cootamundra wattle and brought a small amount home. I also had a few small plants of amaranthus, which had self seeded and which Sam removed when he was clearing the vegetable patch. I couldn't let them go to waste. So, I put them together in a brightly coloured ceramic vase.

I was quite late in pruning the hydrangeas and, whilst the flowers on most of them were quite dead, one shrub still had some quite beautiful, autumnal coloured flowers as well as leaves. Another example of using only one kind of material.

On Saturday, as I sat on the garden bench having lunch, I noticed how the branches of my Prunus mume, Japanese Flowering Apricot, intermingled with the New Zealand flax that is growing below it. 

This inspired me to make an arrangement using these two, rather disparate materials.

I've been watching my garrya elliptica for some weeks now, waiting for the catkins to be long enough to be suitable for ikebana. The wall arrangement is ideal for this, as it provides the height from which the material can hang as low as it needs to. The delicate catkins are quite lovely but they are rather dull in colour, hence the brightly coloured camellias.

Mary's class theme was 'Sketching and Arranging'. In this exercise students are required to look carefully at their material and sketch what the arrangement they visualise. More often than not, the resulting arrangement is quite different from the one in the students' mind and, therefore, in the sketch. This is perfectly fine as it illustrates how much the materials dictate just how they will be used. The sketch is for the student's use only.

As I wrote the date at the top of this post, I noticed that it is the 4th of July and, therefore, American Independence Day. I would like to wish my American readers a very happy 4th of July.

Bye for now,

Emily