COOL ARRANGEMENTS

 

Hello all,

Last Wednesday was the first class for the year and it was with great delight I welcomed back most of my regular students and one new one.

For the advanced students I had set the theme of 'A Cool Arrangement'. As this is not in the curriculum, there are no rules, as such, to be adhered to, so I allowed students their own interpretation.

For my arrangement, above, I chose cool colours in my materials as well as my self made container. The hydrangeas are in pale blues and mauves and the green stems are the inflorescences of a particular green vegetable, similar to spinach, which I grew in winter and which we enjoyed eating. However, I neglected to dig them up when they started to go to seed and this was the result. I don't know the name of the plant because it came in an Italian seed packet which I lost. Anyway, I loved the shapes that were created and the delicate, mauve flowers scattered sparsely through the stems. Sadly, the flowers died within a day. But I did collect some seeds.

The similarity between mine and Nicole's arrangements is purely coincidental. She, too used cool coloured hydrangeas. She also used a dry, sprayed branch in a ceramic vase.

Bredenia chose a glass vase, half filled with water to give the feeling of coolness. She used three bromeliad leaves and one flower.

Vicky made two very different arrangements. In the first, a modern arrangement, she used two dark blue, oval suibans and two very pale pink anthuriums, which she grew herself. The top container had only water.  At the base of the flowers she used agapanthus leaves curled around each other.

Her second arrangement was a naturalistic one in a large, round, glass container. Again, water was an important feature. She wound some wisteria and added more anthurium flowers and one leaf.

Wendy's curriculum theme was 'With Flowers Only'. The choice of materials is very important in this theme. 'Flowers' to be used should be ones that grow out of the ground, such as tulips, jonquils, alstroemerias, chrysanthemums etc. any flowers that grow on a branch, such as camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias, crepe myrtle etc. are not suitable.

Wendy used gerberas, alstroemeria, statice and a yellow material that I'm unfamiliar with in a ceramic, tsubo vase.

Shaneen's theme was 'Green Materials Only'. She used papyrus, diosma, hydrangeas and aspidistra leaves in a ceramic suiban. Although the arrangement is green, there is enough variation in the colour as well as the textures of the materials to make the arrangement interesting and beautiful.

Lei and Mary had the same theme - 'To be Viewed from Above.' 

Lei used a container that looks like a composite of five containers joined together. She used a creeper with some leaves changing colour, lisianthus and freeziers. She strategically left two of the openings free.

Mary used some branches of viburnum plicatum tomentosum, which is flowering completely out of season, hydrangeas and gloriosa lilies.

Bye for now,

Emily