MASTERCLASS #34

 Hello all,

For our recent Masterclass I had given the students large bunches of bare branches plus two NZ flax leaves and two agapanthus flower inflorescences. I instructed them to create a composition without a container or kenzan.

As always, I challenge myself with the same exercise and I made the piece, above, using fig branches and the other, green materials.

Vicky had apple branches, which she intertwined to create similar shapes. She used only one of her leaves and agapanthus. Photo, below.

Lei, also, had apple ranches. Hers was a more contemporary design. She reduced the size of the branches considerably and bent some of them to create the desired effect. She, too, used only one of each of her fresh materials.

Angie's branches were from the persimmon tree. She cut down 2 very big branches and secured them in a naturalistic style, using all of her green materials.

Bredenia, a little uncharacteristically, kept her branches long. She chose not to use the NZ flax but did use the agapanthus.

Lucy's long, curved, fig branches were quite challenging but she managed to balance them, adding all of her green materials.

I made the arrangement, below, three weeks ago. The bent pelargonium stem happened naturally and I placed it in a round container to create a contrast. The aloe flower was, also, naturally curved.  

After a week the aloe flower died but the pelargonium was still fresh, so I replaced the flower with a camellia stem.

Another week later and another flower replacement. This time it's a salvia flower.

For this week's camellia arrangement I'm using the photo of Mary's workshopping camellias arrangement. This material is considerably challenging to arrange correctly, so it's important to practice using it as much as possible.

Mary used a trough container and added hellebores, leaves and flowers, over the kenzan.

Bye for now,

Emily