MASTERCLASS #35

 

Hello all,

For Saturday's Masterclass I had provided each of the students with two different types of branch materials and a small number of flowers. My instructions to them were to concentrate on arranging the branches harmoniously and then consider how to place the flowers. This is inspired by the lesson 'Using Branch Materials Only'.

As always, I give myself the same challenge. At the end of the class some small amount of materials were left over, which I used to create the arrangement, above. My materials were Japanese maple, cashmere cypress and aloe maculata flowers, all in a metal container.

The arrangement, below, was done by Lei. Her materials were Japanese maple, viburnum opulus and strelitzias reginae in a ceramic vase.

Swann opted for an almost horizontal arrangement using Japanese maple, Siberian dogwood and aloe maculata flowers in a ceramic, curved container.

Akemi trimmed off a considerable amount of her branch materials - callistemon and cashmere cypress. She took advantage of their cascading form and placed them in a tall, ceramic container, somewhat intertwined. The green Goddess lilies were following the same direction, only shorter.

Jenny, quite understandably, was reluctant to trim too much from her branch materials but, after some discussion in the class, she agreed that it was important to show the split of the container and removed the unnecessary materials. Her materials were viburnum opulus, callistemon and green Goddess lilies in a ceramic vase.

Lucy's olive branch was particularly challenging because the leaves have a frustrating habit of facing all directions. She paired it with crab apple branches in flower, in a ceramic, triangular container, then added the clivias for colour.

Those of us using cashmere cypress chose tall containers to best display its cascading form. Vicky used a tall, metal vase and, she too, trimmed a great deal of the cypress and callistemon branches before placing them in the vase, then added the arum lilies in a mass.

And now some arrangements I made purely for my own pleasure. The wall arrangement, below comprised clematis, clivias and nandina domestica seed heads.

This next number is in an extra tall, glass vase. The materials were viburnum opulus (probably too many), rhododendrons and weeping willow.

It is with great pleasure that I share this next photo. I was tickled pink when I saw that my peony had three flower buds. This one is the first to open. I used a loquat branch with it and made an arrangement loosely based on variation no. 4.

Bye for now,

Emily