MASTERCLASS #20

 

Hello all,

At the last Masterclass for the year, I provided each participant with 20 stems of umbrella grass, a monstera deliciosa leaf, a New Zealand flax leaf and a strelitzia reginae stem. They were to choose their own containers.

The arrangement, above was done by Lei. She wired umbrella grass stems to create surfaces, then joined them to create triangular designs. She repeated the triangles by trimming the monstera leaf. The sharp angles were meant to contrast with the curves of the container.

Christine was the only one to use the umbrella grass with their seed heads. She chose this container because she'd heard me say that it is difficult to use and she wanted to challenge herself. The monstera leaf was very big and concealed the container but Christine did not want to trim it in the way that Lei did because she was after a naturalistic look. So she cut pieces away making the leaf smaller but keeping its general shape and created greater openings so that the container could be seen through them.

Bredenia did not follow the brief because she needed an arrangement to take to a friend on her 70th Birthday. She used some of the materials I provided but she brought her own yellow strelitzias (Mandela gold). She had to use florists' foam, as it was going to be given away and covered it with Baby's Tears (Soleirolia soleirolii). She told me her friend was delighted with her gift.

Vicky went for quite a dramatic look, using almost the full lenth of the flax and the strelitzia. She bent and joined the umbrella grass stems in a jagard mass, reflecting the openings of the ceramic container.

Lucy used two, small, triangular suibans and one slightly larger. She emphasised lines with the umbrella grass stems and the flax leaf. The double headed strelitzia added to the very graphic design.

Lucy had set up her arrangement at the Boroondara Summer Salon Exhibition at the Hawthorn Art Centre. In conjunction with visual artists, we are able to exhibit one ikebana arrangement per week until 20th January, excepting the week between Christmas and New Year. I am next to exhibit on 4th December.

Lucy with her arrangement at the Exhibition.

And a little announcement. Many of you will remember the street sculpture, Love Flower, that I collaborated with John Meade to design. It has been in its street position on Peninsula Link for four years and is about to be moved to its permanent location at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. To coincide with this move, there will be an exhibition by John Meade at the gallery from 2nd December 2023 to 17th March 2024. I've been asked to provide two large, Ikebana installations for this exhibit. I will be setting up on Wednesday 29th November.

Bye for now,

Emily

STRELITZIAS REGINAE

 

Hello all,

My clump of bird of paradise (strelitzia reginae) has been quite prolific and I've been enjoying arranging them. The stem of one of the flowers was so long that the whole thing was taller than me. Photo below.

Having cut it, I was faced with the dilemma of how to use that long stem in an arrangement. After all, what's the point of that length if I was going to cut it away. The arrangement at the top of this post is what I came up with. I photographed it without filling the vases with water because they would have been too heavy to carry to their designated spot. The large vase on its own weighs 4 kilos.

I was very excited when I saw the shape of this particular flower, below. I've been known to manipulate plants to create interesting shapes but I cannot possibly compete with nature. She never ceases to amaze and delight me.

I needed a long lasting arrangement in this spot on the wall and, with the abundance of strelitzias, it was an obvious choice. And, yes, I'm aware that there is a bit of a pattern coming through. I do like my angles.

At our recent Ikebana International meeting, our guest speaker was Miriam Ford, the President of Australian Plants Society. We were asked to bring native 'sustainable' arrangements. Australian native plants tend to suit naturalistic arrangements, however, I wanted to challenge myself to create a more contemporary one. I used two gymea leaves (doryanthes palmeri), leafless wattle (acacia aphylla) and yellow banksia in a ceramic container.

Lei's class theme was 'Arrangements for Celebrations' and she chose Christmas. She used a heavy, glass vase in the shape of a ball and added a structure she made by gluing together colourful baubles. The asparagus densiflorus created space, lines and added life to the arrangement.

Dianne's class theme was 'Intertwining Plant Materials'. She used Tatarian dogwood branch (cornus Sibirica alba) and coloured flax which she loosely wove through the branch. She added a pink rose as a focal point.

Shaneen's class theme was from the Fifty Principles of Ikebana, number 45. 'If the flowers are the main feature, the container should be subordinate to the flowers. Likewise, if the container is the main focus, then the flowers should be secondary to it'. Shaneen chose to emphasise the flowers and keep the vase subordinate. She used flag iris in a rich, purple colour and star jasmine.

For the advanced students I had set the very last lesson in book 5 - 'What Ikebana Can do Today'. They were to approach some shop owner or trader to allow them to place an arrangement in their premises.

Nicole used in her arrangement contorted hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contarta') and waratah flowers, a big bunch of which was brought to class by Dianne for all to share.

Vicky's Christmas themed arrangement was to go to her hairdressing salon. She used a monstera deliciosa leaf, hippeastrums and hydrangea in two red vases. She finished it off with the addition of mizuhiki as an extra nod to Christmas.

Lucy's arrangement was to be placed on a table at the reception area of the nursing home where our mother is residing. She used more of those fabulous waratahs, golden elm branches and iceberg roses in a large, ceramic vase.

Mary's freestyle arrangement was made using New Zealand flax leaves and banksias in a heavy, footed suiban.

Bye for now,

Emily

MAZE-ZASHI (A variety of materials)

 

 Hello all,

The theme for the advanced students at our last class was Maze-Zashi, A variety of Materials. In my example, above, I used two pieces of wisteria vine, which were cutoffs from my large exhibit at our recent exhibition. I had cut them on 20th September when the whole vine was completely bare of leaves. I put some stems in a bucket of water and watched as, with time, they produced leaves and I was able to use them here. I used, also, strelitzia reginae, spuria iris, Easter daisies and Nigella (Love in the Mist).

Bredenia impressed us with her yellow strelitzias (Mandela's Gold). They added height and strength to her arrangement, whilst the subordinate materials were much softer and smaller. They were nandina domestica, alstroemeria, Easter daisies, spent cottage gladioli and Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage).

Vicky used a large, round, ceramic container, into which she placed Cotinus grace (smoke bush), bougainvillea, Imperial geranium- Regal Elegance and one, double strelitzia reginae.

Jenny used Louisiana iris, parsley flowers, sweet williams, Marguerite daisy, Veronica and verbena vervain. Despite the large number of materials, she was able to create space both at the opening of the container and between the materials themselves, giving the arrangement an uncluttered look.

Shaneen's class theme was 'Complimenting an Art Piece'. Her art piece was an antique, Chinese, wooden box and for a container she used a ceramic trough, similar in shape and size to the box. Her materials were bamboo, nandina domestica nana and day lilies in a colour that perfectly matched the box.

Lei's class theme was 'Tsubo Vases'. She used prunus branches which she secured by the method of 'crossing and nailing'. The pale apricot roses toned in beautifully with her ceramic vase.

Dianne's class theme was 'Composition of Surfaces Made by the Massing of Lines'. She used umbrella grass stems for the 'surfaces' and Dutch iris for colour accent in a ceramic suiban.

Mary was quite prolific at last class, making two freestyle arrangements. In the one below she used some squiggly material, simulating a bird's nest and completed the look with the addition of one, double strelitzia flower.

In her second arrangement Mary used a large, bent flax leaf and one stem of Canterbury bells.

I leave you with this next arrangement using my one and only cymbidium orchid in my self made container. I added the palm inflorescence and some alstroemeria psittacina leaves.

Bye for now,

Emily

GOODBYE NORTHCOTE

 

This is not the way it looked when mum and dad lived there

Hello all,

My parents bought the family home in Northcote over 50 years ago. I, being the eldest, only lived there for a short time until I married and left home. My sisters, however, did most of their growing up in that home until, they too, married and left. 

It is an unremarkable, semi-detached home, built for returned servicemen but which was full of warmth and boundless love. Mum used to prepare dinners for all of us once a week and my children often spent holidays and weekends there. We never referred to it as mum and dad's home but, rather, 'Northcote'.

Mum kept an immaculate home. To her it was not a case of 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' but 'Cleanliness IS Godliness'. Her garden was a profusion of colour and vibrancy. She had no qualms about spending copious amounts of water on her garden. So much so, that we had to buy her a large rain water tank to stop her from overusing mains water. There was no particular design to her garden except to make sure that every square inch of ground was planted with brightly coloured flowers. All her plants were so healthy, they looked like they were on steroids. In the shady spot in the patio she had hydrangeas as big as soccer balls.

We lost dad in 2000 and mum was on her own until 2007, when she had a major stroke and could, no longer, live alone. She moved in with us and the house was rented. 

We recently had to make the very difficult decision of having mum go into care. This necessitated the selling of her home.16 years of neglect by tenants left the house and garden in an appalling state. We went there all together on Saturday to clear up what was left of the tenant's mess before settlement. Having done that we sat in the back yard, under the peppercorn tree, on some makeshift benches and enjoyed a little picnic of tea and coffee and our favourite, freshly baked muffins. It was a lovely, sunny day and, despite the fact that we had not been there as a family for 16 years, we felt very comfortable. We reminisced, we joked and enjoyed being there one last time. And yes, there was the odd tear as well. A fitting farewell to our beloved family home.

Now on to ikebana,

The flag iris are the fist irises to flower in my garden and their arrival is a true herald of spring. I love arranging them in the traditional way. Below is an arrangement using the blue and the white iris in a large, rectangular suiban. I used two long kenzans, arranged lengthwise, on which I placed the weeping willow at the back cascading over the irises plus their leaves and two, small sprigs of Japanese maple.

Below is a vertical arrangement made with flowering, crabapple branches. They were so full of flowers that I had to remove some of them to reveal the stems and create space.

You may remember the arrangement, below, which I made on 18th September with hydrangea stems that were just bringing out leaves. I had chosen them for their interesting curves and the colour of the stems. Seven weeks later, still in the same container, they produced flowers.

The wall arrangement, below, is made with fresh, spring materials - roses, smoke bush (kotinus) and Portugal laurel flowers.

The lower part of a large, palm leaf was left over from an exhibition piece and was too interesting to throw away. I used it in a large, glass vase and added a crucifix orchid, sweeping forward. 

And speaking of leftovers, the green bamboo, below, were remnants from a different exhibit. I had treated them by placing them in boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes and then into the arrangement. This preserved the leaves for more that a week. The flower is curculigo capitulata.

Mary's class theme was 'The Fifty Principles of Sogetsu' from which she chose number 45 - 'If the flowers are the main feature, the container should be subordinate to the flowers. Likewise, if the container is the main focus, then the flowers should be secondary to it'. Mary chose the latter.

Bye for now,

Emily