25TH NOVEMBER, 2024

 

Hello all,

I continue to be awed by the beauty of nature. My dogwood - Cornus capitata is flowering. I cut a rather large branch from which I removed the top and some side shoots to reveal the shape, above. 

The arrangement can fall into three different themes - 'The Shape of the Container', 'The Colour of the Container' and 'Using Only One Kind of Material'

For Wednesday's class I set the advanced students the theme from Book 5 - 'An Arrangement Expressing a Movement'. This can be quite challenging. The important thing to remember is that while every movement is a verb, not every verb is a movement. For example 'sitting', 'sleeping', 'thinking' etc are all verbs but not movements.

My example, above, represents 'clapping'. I used hosta leaves and white dianthus. I kept the flowers subordinate, as the leaves are the main feature.

Mary represented flying/soaring with the use of a strelitzia reginae and two leaves. She paid particular attention to the lines at the base.

 

Shaneen used a tall, thin, glass vase in which she placed a dry branch with one stem forward and the other to the back. The hydrangeas quercifolia were placed in the opposite directions of the stems, simulating marching.

Jenny used a single hydrangea and bull rushes, one of which represents kicking.

Bredenia's onion flowers with their curly stems represent punching a punching bag.

Dianne's class theme was 'A simplified Arrangement'. In this lesson we reduce the material to its most basic elements. Dianne used a long stemmed rose from which she removed all but one of the leaves and one flower. She also used a single, red cordyline leaf.

Wendy's class theme was 'Straight and Curved Lines'. She used agapanthus buds with curved stems and umbrella grass stems in a container with holes to the front and back.

I leave you with this very simple arrangement designed to show off my clematis.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS # 27

 

Hello all,

Nature never ceases to amaze and delight me. The double headed strelitzia reginae, above, has so much 'attitude', that it only required me to place it in an appropriate container. Admittedly, it did require some skill to have the heavy stem sitting upright without resting on the rim of the container. The single leaf, continues the clean, vertical line.

For Saturday's masterclass, the last for the year, the attendees were given three different types of materials each and were asked to study them carefully for a few minutes before selecting a container from the shelves. They were instructed to use as much or as little of their materials as they wanted.

Vicky had a large weeping willow branch, from which she, painstakingly, removed most of the leaves to reveal the lines of the stems. She used a second container for the agapanthus and roses, which she kept up high emphasizing lines at the base.

Akemi chose a tall, glass vase, which she concealed with a New Zealand flax leaf coming from the vase and folding over the front of it. She used a single umbrella grass stem to create asymmetrical, geometric shapes and a small sprig of philadelphus flowers peaking from the back.

One of Cymbie's materials was weeping elm branches and, because she removed all the leaves, she did not have to have the stems in water. She then chose the two glass vases and threaded the stems through the holes. She stripped the leaves from her stem of philadelphus and placed it through one of the holes but, this time, making sure that the stem was in water.

Jenny had a large piece of Japanese maple, which had a slanting form. She removed a great number of the leaves and trimmed away one side stem. She placed the large stem in a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle. On the opposite side she placed the smaller stem, creating a continuous, sweeping line of maple. For the floral focus, she used yellow alstroemeria to one side.

Midori had monstera deliciosa leaves which she cut away from the stems and pushed into the container, creating a ruffled effect. She used the stems for lines and alstroemeria for colour. The arrangement was a nod to the lesson 'Mass and Line'.

Julie had a heavy bunch of loquats which she placed into a large container, turned sideways. She placed the loquat leaves sweeping forward over the fruit and one strelitzia reginae peaking from the back. This arrangement reminds me of the nasty birds that come and eat all my fruit.

Lucy took some pains to place the agapanthus 'just so'. The buds on the agapanthus inflorescence look like tear drops as they hang down in front of the black container. I find this particularly charming. The loquat stem creates the line and the fruit at the back add contrast to colour and form.

At our last, regular class Dianne, very generously, brought a large bucket full of waratah branches with flowers for us all to share. My stem had three flowers and an interesting curve to the stem. I wanted to emphasize the stem so I went searching for complementing branches in the garden and, sure enough, I found it. I was so keen to cut the mahonia and arrange it that I didn't bother getting gloves. For those unfamiliar with this material, it is just about the most prickly one I have ever used. Every tip of the leaves is as sharp as a needle and I have the scratches to prove it. I trimmed all the superfluous leaves from the mahonia, revealing the lovely curve of the stem. Then, when I was done, I went and rubbed antiseptic all over my hands and arms. But, you know what, it was worth it!

Bye for now,

Emily

SOGETSU VICTORIA EXHIBITION CONTINUES

 

Hello all,

We are currently into our third week of our four week exhibition. As I mentioned before, the arrangements change each week with some exceptions. 

This week is for students, who are still on the curriculum and their teachers. It is a great opportunity for less experienced ikebanists to exhibit. This, of course, is done under the supervision of their teachers.

The arrangement, above, is my exhibit for this week. It's quite a large one measuring approximately 1.00 metre high by 1.4 metres wide by 1.00 metre deep. The plant is a palm that has been growing in its pot for many years, so much so, that I think it is partially bonsaied. It was growing slanted because I had tried to remove it and failed, so I left it. The result is a very pleasing, slanted growth habit. I tried a lot harder this time and was successful in removing it. I washed thoroughly and tidied up the roots. Using a saw, I created an indentation to sit over the lip of the second container securely. The yellow birds of paradise, strelitzia reginae mandela's gold, were provided by my student, Bredenia.

Below is Deborah (Deb) MacKenzie's arrangement of Variation No.2 Upright Style Moribana, which is the lesson she is currently up to.

Dianne Longley is in Book 4 and chose to make the lesson Variation no. 4 Slanting Style Nageire. She particularly wanted to use her contorted hazel, Corylus Avellana 'Contorta' and her waratahs, of which she is particularly proud.

Lei Sun (Wendy) is also in Book 4 and her arrangement was of the lesson 'Mass and Line'. She used dried muehlenbeckia complexa for the mass and two strelitzias  reginae for lines.

In last week's exhibition I made an arrangement using fresh and unconventional materials. In a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle I placed a structure made with stainless steel pipes. The fresh material was a strelitzia reginae and two of its leaves.

And now to class. The advanced students were asked to create a freestyle arrangement because some of them had left over materials from our workshops, which should not have been wasted.

Lucy made a very smart arrangement using one New Zealand flax leaf and a single heliconia. And, no, the flax is not touching the table.

Vicky used a large, rectangular, glass container turned to its narrow side and placed a branch of gingko biloba and a single waratah only on one side. She emphasized the thick stem of the branch inside the container.

Shaneen used dried branches and her home grown alstroemeria, which she kept to one side allowing for the split of the container to be visible.

Lei reused the palm leaves from the workshops, trimmed down to a fan shape and placed them in a fun container. She added the strelitzia reginae peaking between the 'fans'.

Although Mary's arrangement was a freestyle it can, also, fit the lessons - 'The shape of the Container' and 'Repeating Similar Shapes and Forms'. She used umbrella grass stems, a single strelitzia reginae and two trimmed down leaves.

Bredenia's arrangement comprised of a number of variegated New Zealand flax leaves and a single strelitzia reginae Mandela's Gold.

 

Bye for now,

Emily

WORKSHOPS WITH NISHIYAMA SENSE

 

Hello all,

Well, the demonstration by Kosa Nishiyama sense on Thursday went very well. I'm sure those of you who attended will agree. Her expertise and talent were surpassed only by her elegance and grace. From the distance of my seat I was not able to take good photographs. However, my student Lei, a budding photographer, has taken hundreds of photos, the best of which will be featured on the Sogetsu Victoria blog in due course.

I was asked to make a welcoming arrangement, which was to be placed at the entrance of the theatre. It was the arrangement, above, which I photographed after I brought it home because the background was too busy. However, I designed it to reflect that very same, busy background with its geometric patterns of glass and metal. 

The structure is made with the dried stems of the New Zealand flax flowers. This material is quite soft and light, making it relatively easy to create interesting structures. For the flowers I raided my strelitzia reginae clump, which is flowering prolifically and filled the large, ceramic container with smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria).

On Saturday Nishiyama sense conducted two workshops. The theme for the morning workshop was 'A Freestyle Arrangement Incorporating Paper'. Nishiyama sense demonstrated two arrangements on the theme.

The attendees were to bring only a container, tools and paper. The materials were provided by the organizers, so we had no idea what to expect. 

My bunch of materials comprised of two cycad fronds, three aspidistra leaves  and a branch of callistemon. The heavy paper I had brought was two sided with a mottled green on one side and blue on the other. By folding it at the two ends, both colours were visible. I used only one flower of the callistemon at the back for a little bit of colour contrast.

By the time I brought the arrangement home the callistemon had wilted so I replaced it with a heliconia.

Lucy used a thick, textured paper with monstera deliciosa leaves and pin cushion flowers (leucospermum).

Vicky made a very cheeky arrangement using her palm leaves, placed up-side-down in her container with squares of white paper attached to the stems. The heliconias added both colour and height. 

The theme for the afternoon workshop was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'. Nishiyama sense stressed the point that the material must be taken apart and then reassembled in a completely different way. In the bunch of materials that I was given I had three stems of Pleomele Song of India and some heliconias. I removed all the leaves from the stem and threaded them together with wire. I then attached the 'skirt' along half of the opening of the container. I added two of the now denuded stems into the arrangement to create lines.

Vicky used only one heliconia from her allocated materials, which she separated into its basic elements and reassembled them as per the photograph, below.

Lucy's container was too large for her materials so she decided to keep the arrangement small and to allow the container to be the main feature. She separated the leaves of the palm and rejoined them vertically. She, also. separated the heliconia petals and rearranged them and added them to the front.

My family and I had the honour of hosting Nishiyama sense and her assistant, Ms Tomoyo Koiwai to dinner on Friday. It was a most enjoyable evening for all of us, so much so, that we forgot to take any photos. Below is the arrangement I had prepared for the dinner table. I used Louisiana iris and smoke bush in a self made container.

I had left over materials after the workshops and could not bear to let them go to waste. When I got home I quickly made a couple of arrangements with them. Below is the photo of an arrangement using tortuous willow which I loosely intertwined and two stunningly beautiful peonies. 

A very simple use of aspidistra leaves and heliconias.

On Saturday evening we all had dinner at the Kew Golf Club. Again, a very enjoyable evening except that this time some members took photos and I can share one with you.

Bye for now,

Emily