27th March, 2022

 

Hello all

Last Monday the Sogetsu group had its AGM followed by a workshop run by Lara Telford. Lara chose the theme 'Creating Space in Ikebana'. Lara's presentation was quite informative and I recommend you visit our blog Sogetsu Victoria and click on Recent Workshops, to see Lara's demonstration photographs and read her explanation of the theme.

Below is my arrangement. I used a structure which I constructed from the dried stems of New Zealand flax flowers, creating a number of spaces, both closed and open. I placed a mass of hydrangeas low in the stainless steel, trough container and two crucifix orchids coming forward from the back into the space created. I chose these flowers for their fine stems and relatively small flower heads so that they did not take away from the spaces created. Because it's not possible to capture depth in the photograph, I included a side view below it.

Lucy was keen to use her new container, and who could blame her. She kept her arrangement uncluttered and her space clearly defined by using just two umbrella grass stems and one crucifix orchid.

Nicole used a branch sweeping forward creating a wide, open space in a ceramic container, the shape of which has its own space. Her flowers were wild sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani sunflower).

In our regular class Shaneen's curriculum lesson was 'An arrangement to be viewed from below'. She used three small, white vases and a number of colourful materials. They were placed on a high window sill for viewing from below before moving them to a more appropriate place for photography.

Wendy' lesson was 'A mass arrangement'. She created a mass with crepe myrtle flowers and another, smaller mass with the leaves of the crepe myrtle. The colour of the ceramic vase toned in very nicely.

Mary's lesson was 'Mass and Line'. She massed together Murraya Paniculata in bud and some roses in a black tsubo vase. Her line was made using two curved agapanthus stems.

Dianne was doing Variation No. 8. In this case two nageire arrangements placed together to create one. She chose Variation No 4 slanting stile and Variation No. 4 horizontal.

You may have noticed that I'm publishing this post a day early. That's because I'll be extremely busy the next couple of days preparing my exhibit at The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS). For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it is the largest such show in the southern hemisphere, very similar to the famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

We had two years without the show, so, those of us who are regular participants, are quite excited to be back at the Royal Exhibition Buildings (REB). I recently found that the REB is the first building in Australia to be awarded World Heritage status.

Anyway, the show will open on Wednesday 30th March and will run until Sunday 3rd April. I'm taking part in the Shop Window competition, as I have done many, many times before. I. also, have two large sculptures in the Victorian Sculptors Association exhibition, which is in the middle of the gardens. I will be on duty at the Sculpture Walk on Wednesday afternoon. If any of you are coming to the show, I hope you'll stop by and say hello.

Bye for now,

Emily

21st March, 2022

Hello all,

My haemanthus lily produced 2 flowers that had to be cut and used. Their short stems are somewhat limiting, so I chose this self-made container in which to display them. Because I don't use this container very often, I had forgotten about it but re-discovered it during some tidying up of the store room. I, also, used dietes leaves and Murraya Paniculata in bud.

It was Vicky's turn to choose a theme for the advanced students and she chose from Book 5, Lesson 14 - 'Composing with Branches - A Two Step Approach'. In this exercise a free standing structure is to be created using cut branches that are joined together. This structure should be interesting enough to stand alone. Then we introduce a container and fresh materials. The branch structure can be used either in its original standing position, or turned in any direction that best fits the container and fresh materials.

Below is my branch structure. I used dried pine branches that were attached to the lower part of the trunk of the tree. I used screws to join the pieces together, then glued some bark over the screw heads to conceal them.

And here it is with a ceramic container, hydrangeas and nerines.

Jenny's dried branches were rhododendron. She wirred her pieces together.

And here is the final arrangement in a ceramic vase with hydrangeas.

Nicole used fine Manchurian pear and apple branches.

She, also, used hydrangeas in a ceramic container to complete her arrangement.

Vicky likes tall arrangements and this was no exception. She used long,silver birch branches, creating contrast between the strong, white stems and the finer, darker ones.

She used a tall, ceramic vase and oriental lilies to complete the piece.

Lucy's material was tall but quite fine. She found it in my store room but I don't remember from which tree it came. She created a delicate balance.

She retained the delicate feeling by using a horizontal elm branch and one crucifix orchid.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS No. 9

Hello all,

As there were only four attendees to last Saturday's Masterclass, I did not dedicate a blog post to it. Instead, I have incorporated it into my regular, weekly post.

I've been intending to workshop hawthorn branches and was waiting for the berries to be at their best. Unfortunately, between last month's class and now, the birds discovered the berries were ripe and stripped most trees of them. The few that still had berries were not easily accessible but I managed to cut enough branches with the help of my trusty, extendable cutter.

I provided the students with hawthorn branches and accompanying materials but I allowed them, after studying their material carefully, to choose their own container. Once the container was chosen, they were not allowed to change it.

In my arrangement, above, I used red hawthorn berries and black, Portugal laurel berries. I removed the berries from their branches by cutting them with scissors and not pulling them out. This, together with a teaspoon of bleach, keeps them going for a few days. I used a single anthurium and squiggly grass to complete the piece.

Jenny made a large, naturalistic arrangement in one of my self made containers that she has been wanting to use for some time. Since she was given a choice, she was not going to miss out on the opportunity. She used hydrangea leaves and flowers to complete her arrangement.

Christine stripped the leaves from the hawthorn branches, leaving only the berries. She also used amaranthus and cosmos flowers and one calla lily leaf for depth at the back. She emphasised the split in this strong container by leaving it free of materials.

Vicky made a very tall, vertical arrangement using two triangular containers. She created a mass by cutting sprigs of the berries and putting them together. She also massed the sedum flowers tightly, creating a very dramatic effect.

Cym wanted to float the berries in a glass container. She used two rectangular, glass vases. Into one, she put water half way up the vase and floated the berries. She, also, scrunched a newly unfurled, monstera leaf into an informal mass at the top. In the second, smaller vase, she used pieces of the stem of the monstera leaf to create lines at the top and finished it with a belladonna lily, which she reduced in size.

I, also, wanted to use the hawthorn berries in a naturalistic arrangement. I, painstakingly, removed all the leaves from the branches and chose a strong container with two openings. In one I placed the branches and in the other, some Japanese anemones. The end result is a simple arrangement, however, the mechanics required to stop the heavy branches from falling forward, were not. The openings of the container only allow for a narrow kenzan, which is not heavy enough to hold the branches. So, I wedged a stick between the kenzan and the 'roof' of the container, stopping the kenzan from tipping forward with the weight of the branches.

At last week's Ikebana International meeting, our workshop theme was 'Late Summer grasses'. Our demonstrator was Angeline Lo. Please click II Melbourne to see Angeline's demonstration piece as well as the work by the attending members. 

As for me, I took the exercise quite literally and used only grasses whereas other members used other materials as well. Apart from the miscanthus, which I grow, the rest are wild grasses, the names of which I do not know.

When I was searching for interesting grasses, I came across some really big bull rushes, which, of course, I cut and brought home. It took me a couple of days of looking at them in the bucket before deciding how to use them. They were more than 1.5 metres tall, so the first thing I did was to cut them shorter. I like the look of them in this container with many holes. However, because it can only hold water up to the first hole, there was the danger of the container tipping over. I kept shortening the bull rushes until an equilibrium was reached. The wooden structure is one I've used before.

And now for an announcement. Please see the flyer, below. I was asked to take part in this exhibition and I sent my photograph.

The instructions were to make a colourful arrangement. Here is my contribution. I used Cornus Siberica alba branch, bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae), and Portugal laurel berries. Ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily

7th March, 2022

Hello all,

The lovely basket arrangement, above, was made by Nicole McDonald. I'm giving each one of my advanced students the task of picking the class theme for the next few lessons. For our last lesson it was Nicole's turn and she picked 'A Basket Arrangement using Seasonal Materials'. The requirement of seasonal materials adds a considerable degree of difficulty. Although it is easy to find seasonal flowers, it's much harder to find accompanying branches or leaves that are only available this season. Nicole used nandina domestica in its autumn colour, Red Fountain grass, sedum, salvia and a small hydrangea.

Vicky made a small arrangement in a basket she bought in Japan when we were there together. She used only the snail creeper, Cochliasanthus caracalla. This plant was grown from a cutting taken from our mother's house, so it has very special significance for us. It also has a delightful fragrance.

When using a basket with a handle it is important to have the handle visible. In Lucy's arrangement, below, you have to look at the photograph closely but you can see that the handle is visible. Lucy used Japanese anemones - flowers and leaves, echinops, crocosmia inflorescence and yellow dahlias.

Bredenia had a large flat basket which required large materials. Fortunately her hawthorn branches with berries were quite big. She painstakingly removed all the leaves. She then added sedum, alstroemeria.

Below is my simple arrangement. I used a basket without handles because I wanted to use the pinellia pedatisecta leaf, which is seasonal and whose form would not allow for a handle. With it I used cosmos and Japanese anemones and phlox.

Wendy's curriculum lesson was 'The Shape of the Container'. She used the ubiquitous but very useful agapanthus and roses.

Shaneen's curriculum lesson was 'Dried, Bleached or Coloured Material'. She used three dried, bird's nest fern fronds and statice in a ceramic container with a slit at the front.

Mary's curriculum lesson was 'Massed Expression'. She made a mass of three different materials - several hydrangeas, trimmed umbrella grass heads and geranium flowers. She, then, joined all three in one large mass. The heavy, ceramic container dictated the need for a large mass.

Bye for now,

Emily

28th February, 2022

 

Hello all,

The arrangement, above, is made using three of my much prized apples and a branch of the same apple tree. I also used some nandina domestica nana that's just changing colour. The tall vase is stainless steel.

All of our fruit trees, apart from the fig, have produced much fewer fruit than previous years. I managed to safeguard from the local fauna, a couple of dozen of the apples by covering them with plastic bags. I suspect this is the reason that they have none of their usual, reddish strips of colour.

It is Amaryllis belladonna time and I have loved going out into the garden to see these snake-like stems come up from the dirt and, in no time at all, they have produced a large flower head comprising of clusters of up to thirty funnel-shaped flowers. In my garden I have pink, cream and one red. I had divided the bulbs a couple of years ago because they were very crowded, so I had only a couple of flowers last year. I'm very pleased to say that I have many more this year.

Belladonna lilies with willow stems twisted, dried and sprayed white. Glass vase

Philodendron selloum and belladonna lilies in ceramic container

Weeping elm stem and belladonna lily in ceramic tsubo vase

Frilly fishbone fern and red belladonna lily in ceramic container

Last week we had our very first Sogetsu workshop, run by Elizabeth Angell. The theme was 'An Ikebana Arrangement Incorporating Paper'. My arrangement is below. 

I had a very pretty, Japanese, double sided paper, which I cut into strips, in similar width to the New Zealand fax I was using. I draped two long strips over the flax and added pink cleome spider flowers, picking up the colour on one side of the paper. To see Elizabeth's demonstration arrangements as well as those made by our members, please click Sogetsu Victoria and then 'Recent Workshops'.

Bye for now,

Emily

21st February, 2022

 

Hello all,

At last Wednesday's class, the theme for the advanced students was 'Glass Containers'. In this exercise the container must be transparent so that refraction through water is visible. Depending on the shape of the container, there can, also, be reflection. Any materials inside the container must be an integral part of the overall arrangement.

In an effort to find materials I haven't used before in this exercise, I was drawn to the vibrant colours of this bromeliad - Neoregelia carolinae. I was aiming to remove just the leaf blade by gently prying it away from the plant and I managed to remove some of them before the whole cup came away. So now I had materials for two arrangements. The first one was the one below, I used the leaves with the sheaths interconnecting to get this in-and-out of the container arrangement. 

The one above was my second arrangement, putting to use the accidental removal of the cup of the bromeliad. Fortunately, I have quite a few of them growing at the bottom of the garden, so it was not a loss.

Jenny used a recently acquired, faceted, glass container, which she laid on its side rather than the more conventional upright. The shape of the container still allowed enough depth for water. She used umbrella grass, which she trimmed sharply and whose stems she bent to complement the shape of her container. The two green materials inside the container are unfamiliar to me but worked very well.

Nicole used an oval shaped, glass vase into which she bent the stems of agapanthus, with just one flower head peaking at the top.

Vicky used just crocosmia inflorescence inside and out of a slightly conical vase. She tried using other materials as well but they cluttered the arrangement and took away from the lines, so were left out. 

Lucy used only roses, given to her for Valentine's day. The simple arrangement belies the difficulty involved in arranging the stems evenly.

Bredenia used two calla lily leaves and some individual flowerettes from the ginger flower in a rectangular, glass vase.

Wendy's curriculum theme was Ka-bu-wa-ke from Book 3. She used agapanthus and roses in a ceramic suiban.

Shaneen's curriculum theme was Focusing on the Uses of Water. She chose to use a fish bowl, glass container, filled half way with water, in which she floated a small water lily leaf and some tiny flowers. She placed a lichen covered branch over the top, which cast a shadow over the whole thing, drawing the eye to the inside of the container and, therefore, the water. I've lamented this point before but photographing arrangements in glass vases can be very difficult. I apologise that you can't see the inside of the bowl properly.

Bye for now,

Emily