MASTERCLASS #29

 

Hello all,

My instructions for Saturday's Masterclass was to make a large arrangement and, to that end, I provided the students with large pieces of materials as well as large containers. I scoured my garden and surrounding neighbourhoods for interesting materials and, I must share this anecdote with you. There are a couple of mature pine trees close by with branches that are growing so low that they rest on the ground. They are on Council land. When I need pine I usually go there. There is a cantankerous, curmudgeon of a man who lives across the road and persists on harassing me every time I go there. He accuses me of stealing and making money from my cuttings. My telling him that I have spoken to the council and got permission to cut makes absolutely no difference. One small example of the lengths, to which I am prepared to go for my art! 

As always, I, too, took up the challenge. My arrangement, above, was made after the class had finished because I had no time beforehand. It started with the long, loquat branch with an interesting curve, which was to be the main feature. I chose the container for its shape but, also, its size. It had to be heavy enough to hold the branch without tipping over. It takes one and a half watering cans to fill it, thus making the arrangement very stable. I did some careful pruning and removal of leaves before placing it in the container.

I was, then, faced with the dilemma of which flowers to use, knowing full well that there are not many in the garden, thanks to this relentless heat wave. I found some apricot coloured roses and tried placing them following the curve of the stem.....

....but I was not happy. They looked too weak and covered part of the stem. I, finally, settled on the hydrangeas and placed them as a hikae in a variation No 4 slanting style arrangement.

Lei had three pieces of bamboo, a pine branch and some osage oranges, maclura pomifera. She created the structure with the bamboo and, after trimming the pine, added it into the space created, together with the osage oranges.

Jenny was given a large piece of pine, two amaranthus and one belladonna lily, Amaryllis belladonna. The tall, glass vase allowed the materials to cascade down, gracefully.

Akemi had two, large strelitzia nicolai leaves, one green and one changing colour. She also had three agapanthus seedheads, from which she removed the seeds. Two had curved stems and one was straight. The large, ceramic container is one I made decades ago. It suited the materials very well.

Christine had a large piece of cedar with delightful, small cones, which looked like Christmas decorations. Her challenge was to position the heavy stem facing upwards. She managed it very well in the end, adding a smaller piece on the opposite side and then added the belladonna lily to the back coming forward.

Bredenia had a very tall piece of fresh bamboo, which she cut in half and placed the two halves together into the container, creating a fuller mass. She had leucadendron stems, from which she removed the leaves, leaving just the coloured bracts at the top. She placed them in between the bamboo, then added two, variegated, New Zealand flax leaves as lines.

Vicky, also, had fresh bamboo as her main material. She removed the side shoots from one side of each cane leaving the ones on the other side that were growing parallel, in a smart design. The roses, used naturalistically softened the arrangement. She used the two, triangular, wooden suibans quite effectively.

Lucy was given a large, square, glass vase, a large palm frond and a belladonna lily. She stripped all the leaves from one side of the frond and many of the other side. She placed it into the vase in a way that created curves inside the container and straight lines outside.

I have to confess that I was particularly impressed with the quality of the work produced by these girls. They seem to be going from strength to strength. I wish you could see their arrangements as I did and not through the medium of photography, where much is lost, in particular depth.

Bye for now,

Emily