MASTERCLASS #28

 

Hello all,

For each of the participants of the recent Masterclass I provided a branch of hawthorn berries, a branch of crabapples and a single hydrangea. They were instructed to study their materials and then select a container.

My example, above, is a wall arrangement, which I photographed on the table against a dark background because I can't get a good photograph against the white wall.

Akemi removed all the leaves from the hawthorn and the crabapples. She made a feature of the hawthorn branch, securing it upside down and added a small cluster of the crabapples and the one hydrangea to the back.

Bredenia emphasized the asymmetry in her arrangement by placing the large, hawthorn branch, heavy with berries to one side and the smaller branch of crabapples to the other. The hydrangea, then, becomes the focal point and the element that ties the two together.

Lucy chose a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle. She placed the long, hawthorn stems sweeping forward and added a small branch of crabapples and the single hydrangea.

Cymbie placed her materials inside and outside of the container, which has holes all around it. In this case the placement inside the container is as important as the outside because the stems are visible through the holes. Therefore Cymbie did not use a kenzan and, the removal of the leaves of the branches, meant that they did not need to be in water.

Christine followed the line of the lip of the container and created a sweeping line with the two different branches. She added just a small hydrangea allowing the branches to be the main focus.

For Mary I set the theme 'With Leaves Only'. Since Mary has no garden she has to resort to buying flowers and, with Valentine's Day on Friday, we felt flowers would be both scarce and expensive.

A walk around my garden and we came up with a number of interesting leaves. Mary used New Zealand flax, Curculigo, Canna lily and calla lily leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Last week we had our first Ikebana International meeting. Our guest speaker was Dr Jacinta Burke from Rose Care. She is a lady with a long list of credentials and her presentation was both entertaining and informative. We, the members, were asked to bring arrangements using roses.

In my arrangement, below, I used some more prunings from my wisteria, from which I removed the leaflets, leaving the stems only. After the heatwaves we had recently, the only roses I could find in the garden were my trusty Altissimos.

Bye for now,

Emily