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