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AUTUMN in MAINE

October 14, 2014, 5:55 pm
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This posting comes to you from Maine in the northeast of the USA which is an area famous for the autumn colour. My ikebana friend Michael Beedenbender and his partner come here each year for their annual holiday. Sogetsu members from Melbourne may remember meeting Michael in 2010 when he was working there for six months. He joined Victorian Branch members in an outdoor workshop in the Alexandra Gardens Kew. He is in this group photo below.


We were driven here, through Vermont and New Hampshire, from Ottawa by Leonora Duffield and her husband Richard. I was amazed at the forests of birch, that in Australia are 'specimen' trees, when one manages to grow them, and the mile after mile of saturated autumnal colour. It made me think that the winter snow might even come as a relief. The photo below was taken from the car window.


One morning this week I thought I would play 'Andy Goldsworthy' * , having been inspired by photographs of his work in the past and our visit to Storm King Art Centre (two posts ago on 4th October). The following series of photos were taken in the garden of the house where we are staying.


Above is the driveway into the property.





This large stone sits in the centre of the turning circle in front of the house and had a small pool of water in the top. I gathered leaves from the drive way, graded them according to colour and floated them across the surface of the small pool.





We visited a local potter who kindly let us raid his garden of some beautiful hydrangeas that I thought would fun to arrange.


Here I have created an arrangement with the hydrangea in three blue ornamental bottles I found in the house. I also wanted to arrange some 'sumac' * , (Rhus typhinia) leaves since I first saw them in Ottawa two weeks ago. 






As we are in a holiday house I needed to improvise in this baking dish, in which I decided to make a somewhat abstract contemporary looking work.

Greetings from Christopher
18th October 2014


Further travel photos from: Ottawa and Maine * . 

* Click on blue text for further information.

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FALLINGWATER

October 24, 2014, 11:06 am
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At the beginning of this week, after leaving Maine, we travelled to Pittsburg to see Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous creation: the house called Fallingwater, commissioned by the Kaufman family and built in 1937. It still looks as modern as tomorrow to me. When he was about 26, Wright first saw Japanese architecture at the 'World's Colombian Exposition' in 1893, in the form of a large pavilion * that survived until it was destroyed by arson in 1945. Aspects of Japanese design aesthetics were a huge influence in his evolving ideas about architecture.

The visit to Fallingwater was arranged to be the highpoint of our trip to North America.  We had arranged a private tour of the house for us and our two american friends, both called Michael.  Our tour guide was a senior curator who talked to us for over two hours as he took us into every room of the house and the adjoining guest house, including a number of rooms that were not on the usual tour schedule.  One of the extraordinary privileges of our tour was that we were served lunch on one of the outside terraces.



The house is built over a waterfall in a steep, densely wooded valley. The view above is taken from Mr Kaufman's study.


The sound of the waterfall welcomes the visitor before this first view when approaching the house . 




I was initially irritated by the tree in the centre of the photo above until it reminded me of Mr Umemura demonstrating the desirable asymmetry of ikebana by holding a vertical stick in front of an arrangement to emphasise the difference between the two halves.



After lunch on the 'pottery terrace' the four of us walked into the grounds for this classic view of the house. Michael, Laurie, Christopher and Michael.


This weeks ikebana is a beautiful autumn arrangement of 'bittersweet'berries (Celastrus scandens), miscanthus, petunia and hydrangea, created by Michael Beedenbender. The vase is by Scott Goldberg *, a ceramic artist from Brooksville, Maine.

Greetings from Christopher
24th October 2014

* Click on blue text for further information
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SPANISH MOSS

October 31, 2014, 7:04 pm
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After our tour of Fallingwater (see last week's blog), we travelled with my ikebana friend Michael and his partner Mike to spend a couple of days with them in their Florida home. What a change of climate. Orlando is at a similar distance from the equator to Brisbane in Australia and seems to have a similar climate, though the latter is a bit drier. I was rather amazed to see huge lengths of Spanish Moss trailing from trees (and power lines). Apparently it rarely kills trees, but I saw groves of orange trees covered in it that looked decidedly unhealthy. 


Above, it looks beautiful framing this view of the lake at the bottom of our friends' garden.






In the front garden a 'Silk Floss Tree' (Ceiba speciosa) was in full bloom, scattering many flowers over the path and roof.


  

Above, by climbing on a wall, I managed to take this photo of a single petal caught among some Spanish Moss that had attached to the spikes on the tree trunk.


Two weeks ago, when we were in Maine, I picked some miscanthus that I later noticed had a white stripe down the central rib. I thought I would like to emphasise this feature so I cut the flowers off and arranged, it in a glass salad bowl, leaning well forward to show the stripe. 

Then I added a long stemmed hydrangea stripped of leaves to preserve the emphasis of the lines in the design.


Greetings from Christopher
1st November 2014

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RETURN TO SPRING

November 7, 2014, 4:41 pm
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Since my last post we have returned home to find that the weather has been unusually dry for this time of year; so the newer plantings in the garden have needed a little 'hydro-therapy'. The weather has been typically unstable with changes every couple of days, being warm (mid 20's) then cool (mid teens) in turns. In August before we left one of our native creepers Pandorea pandorana had come into flower.


This particular variety is called 'Snowbells', the photo above shows it growing on the side fence.


I particularly wanted to use it to make a hanging arrangement. In the Sogetsu Ikebana curriculum, the work I have created is nearest to 'An arrangement to be viewed from below'.


After trimming most of the leaves away, I have placed the vine in a shallow bowl and allowed it to cascade over the edge of the plinth on which it stands. As it falls below the level of the bowl the flowers and vine stem are seen against the surface of the plinth.


This is the arrangement viewed from the side; the bowl is by the ceramic artist Phil Elsonand the ceramic plinth by Graeme Wilkie.


Greetings from Christopher
8th November 2014
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LEARNING ABOUT SEIKA

November 15, 2014, 3:12 am
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A few months ago I posted the photo, below, of the Cootamundra Wattle flowering beside the garden path. When the flowers have finished they form multiple seed pods... 



...that are loved by birds. This Sulphur Crested Cockatoo * is making the most of the free food. I note that Wikipedia says: '...They are very demanding pets, being very loud and having a natural desire to chew wood and other hard and organic materials...', quite true, this includes wooden window frames.



The cockatoo moved closer to a casurina after I took the first photo.



Last Tuesday I attended the meeting of the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International. We were treated to a demonstration and workshop by the visiting Iemoto designate, Shihosai Uematsu, of the Shogetsudo Koryu school. I really enjoyed the hands-on workshop which was very well conducted. Following the morning demonstration each participant was presented with diagramatic instructions and a bunch of suitable materials for creating a seika arrangement. Here is my effort at the exercise, re-created at home.





Above is a side view of the work showing how, in this case the (seven), stems are aligned in a single row, one behind the other.


More photos from the event can be seen through the link: Shogetsudo Koryu at I. I. Melbourne.

* click on the coloured text for further information.

Greetings from Christopher
16th November 2014


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STRAIGHT LINES and ANGLES

November 21, 2014, 11:20 pm
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Two weeks ago my teacher set the exercise of 'making geometric shapes' for our class. Not to be confused with 'repeating shapes' from the Sogetsu curriculum. I chose to use the common reed (Phragmites Australis) that grows in the creek below our house as well as along the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Through my internet research I was interested to learn that an environmental authority from South Australia * regards these plants as desirable, unlike the wikipedia entry on the same plant.



When arranging five stems of the material I bent the leaves at a sharp angle back to the stem where I threaded the tip through I a small slit I had made. This resulted in numerous triangles ascending vertically above the open ceramic vessel. Maren, a fellow student at the class, kindly lent me the single South African 'pincushion protea' * flower that I have placed at the back of of the righthand reed stems. 

On Monday last, the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School held a workshop that was led by Emily Karanikolopoulos on the theme of creating 'Ikebana as a gift'. Emily produced six beautiful examples that are on the Victorian Branch * website along with a slide-show of the participants work. Click on the blue text to see the photos from the sogetsu workshop and then select the heading 'Recent Workshops' .


Greetings from Christopher 
22nd November 2014
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INTENSE and SUBTLE COLOUR

November 29, 2014, 2:52 am
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A couple of weeks ago I was in Sydney and was delighted to see a large number of Central/South American Jacaranda * trees in full bloom. Their colour was remarkable, and on our first day there it seemed intensified by the overcast sky.


Laurie and Cooper under the Jacaranda.
   
      
At the same time the really stunning Australian Illawarra Flame Tree * (Brachychiton Acerfolius) was also flowering abundantly, as you can see in the two photos below



Two weeks ago I posted a photo of a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, which a number of people enjoyed, including my ikebana friend Joan. 


This week she gave me the photo, above, of a cheeky looking Kookaburra * she had just fed in her Melbourne garden. Co-incidently, I had seen one that very morning in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens being chased by a smaller bird that obviously felt the eggs in its nest were in danger of being eaten by the Kookaburra.

At the beginning of the week I received a parcel from the USA. It was a porcelain vase I had bought from Mark Bell *, a ceramic artist in Blue Hill, Maine, whom Laurie and I were introduced to thanks to our friends 'the Michaels'. 

     
Here is the vase with two Oriental Lilies whose stems beautifully echo an inversion of its profile curve, scalloped opening and complement its colour.

Greetings from Christopher
29th November 2014

* Click on the blue text for further information.
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IKEBANA and OLD BOOTS

December 6, 2014, 3:11 pm
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Because Melbourne is nearly 900kms south west of Sydney the subtropical trees, that I showed in last weeks posting, are just coming into full bloom here. The Jacaranda, below, is in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Garden adjacent to the Herbaceous Border. 


         
Laurie and I were showing some friends from the United Kingdom around the gardens and came across this Brachychiton Acerfolia. 


Pictured above are Stephen, Stella and Laurie, all of whom met in Papua New Guinea where they worked in the early 1970's.

Another of my favourite flowers in the garden is this 'Golden Chalice Vine' (Solandra Grandiflora), which has enormous flowers the size of small bowls.



Stephen kindly consented to be the human figure to give a sense of scale to these huge flowers.



This week's ikebana is the work of my students. In their class last week I set them the exercise of creating ikebana using 'Fresh and Unconventional (man-made) Material'. The results were very varied and showed an imaginative interpretation of the exercise.


Ellie used perforated rubber matting which she scrolled, exploiting its sheerness to partially conceal some of the yellow lilies that she had combined with variegated New Zealand Flax leaves.


Helen combined a rusty bicycle chain with seed pods from a succulent. She carefully placed the chain to emphasise the two different surfaces of the vase.


Maureen combined an old boot that was splattered with white paint, white chrysanthemums and stems from a Xanthorrhoea (grass tree).



Christine used a junction-section of air-conditioning ducting, white plastic strapping and an ornamental variety of 'Tea tree' (leptospermum).

Greetings from Christopher
7th December 2014

* Click on the blue text for further information.
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WHAT THE WEATHER BRINGS

December 12, 2014, 4:25 pm
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I mentioned last week that we were hosting some friends visiting from the United Kingdom. Their visit coincided with an unusual weather event. Warm, moist air coming down the east coast of Australia was swept in a southwest flow across Victoria. This weather pattern results in easterly winds and persistent rain that will last, on and off on this occasion, for several days. From the point of view of gardening the rain was most welcome and has topped up our 13,500 litre garden water-tank.

For our visitors it was not the version of Australia they usually see on their TV screens. However, one of the interesting sights was a huge number of small bluebottle jellyfish * being washed up on our beach because of the unusually choppy seas and easterly swell.



      
To me the two most surprising features of these organisms are their intense blue colour and their extraordinarily long tentacles, as you can see above.

   

The photos above show a small number, among the hundreds, of jellyfish we saw on the beach scattered among little brown pea-sized air-bladders that have detached from seaweed in the stormy weather.

Speaking of the sea reminds me that I recently gave a class about 'focusing on water' in an arrangement. My student, Leonie, made this work in a glass cylinder using shredded New Zealand Flax leaves and a single yellow iris-like flower of dietes bicolour.


At the same class I made the work below, to show how two arrangements may be combined to create a single arrangement. In this instance I used suibans, shallow tray-like vessels, but any two vessels may be used. This work also 'focused on water', in this case the surface of the water.



Greetings from Christopher
13th December 2014

* click on the blue text for further information
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LAST CLASS FOR 2014

December 20, 2014, 3:38 pm
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We have almost come to the end of another year that has been wonderfully full with ikebana and other activities. The major highlight for me on the ikebana front, which took up a lot of energy at the time, was the exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, 'Autumn in Melbourne' *. 

On Thursday this week my students and I gathered for an end of year celebration. We met at my house and each person brought a gift of food to share. 


Then our ikebana activities began. The advanced students drew a number from a 'hat' which corresponded with a specific location in the house. Their task was to make an ikebana arrangement with materials they had brought and make it complement the space they were allocated. Additionally they had to work in an unfamiliar vessel that they chose from my collection of vases.


This first work is by Alana who used unusual flowers (from an unknown South African tree, see photo below) with two types of fern the massed one on the right being a form of asparagus fern. 


        

I photographed the tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne this morning but couldn't find a marker with its name.


Maureen used some fine white flowers, red berries and strappy leaves in a circular vase placed on its side. 


I have re-photographed the arrangement as it was difficult to see well against the vertical blinds. 



The challenge for Christine was the confined space of this corner at the end of a long corridor. She has used a palm spathe, white painted branches and white agapanthus.


The challenge for Ellie's arrangement was the very busy background of the carved sideboard. This situation diminishes the impact of lines in an arrangement.


She massed small yellow flowers, red heliconia and horse tail in a crescent shaped ceramic vase.


I am afraid I did not even try to photograph Helens work in situ. Her location was a low glass topped table standing on a dark red patterned rug.


She used succulent fruits and two dried leaves from a 'fiddleleaf fig' * (ficus lyrata). This photo shows the work as an arrangement 'To be viewed from above', one of the set exercises from the Sogetsu curriculum.
   


The last arrangement is by Vivien. She has used a form of 'Sea Holly' * (Eryngium Maritimum), and for contrast a large pink hydrangea and two leaves of acanthus from our garden.

As usual we enjoyed the fellowship of our class and the joy of making ikebana with the added challenge of working in an unfamiliar location and unfamiliar vase.

Wherever you are reading this, I hope you have a safe and happy Christmas.

Greetings from Christopher
21st December 2014

* Click on the blue text for further information.
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COLOURFUL BIRDS at CHRISTMAS

December 27, 2014, 1:21 am
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Thanks to my friend Shirley, the un-identified pea-shaped flowers in the first arrangement (by Alana) of last week's posting, have been correctly identified as Erythrina crista-galli, (Cock spur-coral-tree); from South America, not Africa as I had said. While following up Shirley's lead, I was interested to discover this plant has been named as a potential weed * in the northern coastal regions of New South Wales and Queensland.

I do hope you have had a good Christmas. Here on the south coast of Victoria the summer weather has begun and many families have come to the seaside for the long school holidays. Among the sights I have noticed in recent days have been some beautifully colourful birds .


This Rainbow Lorikeet * was feasting on the nectar from a eucalypt in our garden.


Here are two Galahs* feeding on seeds in the grass in front of a neighbours house.


I was especially delighted to capture this photo of a male Blue wren * (malurus cyaneus)   in the heathland above Bells Beach. It is a very small bird, shy and very quick in its movements and so hard to photograph.

At the last class with my teacher, our exercise was to make a Christmas arrangement. I wanted to make something a little understated and was pleased when I found two Goddess Lilies * (Zantedeschia aethiopica). I inserted two small red Christmas baubles in the throat of each. I have arranged them with some deites leaves in matching black suibans (shallow ikebana vessels) so that they could be placed on a buffet or as a table decoration.


With best wishes and seasons greetings from
Christopher.

27th December 2014

* Click on the blue text for further information





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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE SOUTH COAST OF VICTORIA

January 3, 2015, 3:43 pm
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On New Year's Day I walked along the clifftop track to Bell's Beach, about 4 kms west of Torquay.


This photo is looking toward Bell's Beach and shows the heathland of low growing shrubs and grasses on the left-hand side above the clifftops. Flowers in this landscape are mostly small and only look spectacular when they  flower en masse in spring. However, I had some fun taking some photos including trying to take some close-up images.


These are the fruiting bodies of the Prickly Tea-tree * (Leptospermum continentale). Although they are quite small there are so many of them the branches seem covered in the rich red berries.



A long time ago my friend Fermi identified this sweet little flower, which was growing along side the path, as Centaurium erythraea * . When I discussed it with him recently he pointed out that it is, in fact, an introduced species that has naturalised. However, he pointed out that it is not a particularly invasive weed and can fairly easily be removed. 




This prostrate Banksia marginata was also growing beside the path. In this very exposed situation, where it is subject to strong and salty southwestly winds, it only grows as a small dense shrub. Inland it may grow to tree height.



The small stems remind me of cherry tree bark because of their colouring and shiny surface.


Another favourite is this Spyridium (S. vexilliferum) that is known locally as Propeller Plant. It is interesting to note that the silvery white 'propellers' are actually new leaves, in the centre of which is the multiple flower head.



 In the photo above a minute yellowish flower can be seen in the red circle. 

This week's ikebana has a Banksia (B. oblongifolia, [I think]) from the garden), some Dock weed, and a small yellow everlasting multi-headed flower from Western Australia. The beautiful wood-fired, Shino glazed vase is by the Canadian ceramic artist Don Goddard * from Lachine.  



Here it is again with some red and white mizukiki strings added, to wish you a happy New Year.



Greetings from Christopher
4th January 2015
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FLOWERING BRANCHES

January 9, 2015, 7:56 pm
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This week two friends living through the depths of winter in North America have written to me following my posting last week; Lynn commenting that it was lovely to see '...growing things and bright sunshine!...' and Leonora that '...at the moment (it is) too cold to even buy flowers, they would freeze instantly!...'. I must admit to being a little shocked at the thought that flowers from the florist would freeze. The possibility had never occurred to me. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius in Ottawa at the time ( - 4 Fahrenheit). I 'take my hat off' to ikebanists who keep their passion alive under such circumstances.

Leonora sent the photo below of the view through her window. It shows another kind of natural beauty being revealed.



Through the ice crystals on the window, on the right is the tortuous willow in her front garden, and in the centre of the photo, a spruce in the garden of the house opposite. Here in the south of Australia we are being blessed with rain following a week of extreme heat, with serious bushfires near Adelaide in South Australia.

One of the indigenous plants blossoming here at the moment is a small tree, Bursaria * , which has clusters of small creamy-white flowers at the end of it's branches. I really like the odd angles that often occur in the branches that make it a good material for ikebana.


Above is a small bush I photographed this morning that is in full flower.


This next photo shows a larger tree that finished flowering a couple of weeks ago. I used some of this material to make a free standing 'no kenzan' arrangement in a shallow suiban.


To emphasise the asymmetry of the work I have used fresh, flowering, branches on one side and a bare branch opposite. This has also contributed to the open space within the arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher
10th January 2015

* click on the blue text for further information.
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FLOWERS AFTER RAIN

January 16, 2015, 8:24 pm
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This last week has seen some unusual, very welcome, drenching summer rain that persisted for a day and a half and really refreshed the garden. The rain was especially welcome because spring had been unusually dry. This evening, as I watered the garden from our rainwater tank, I was surprised to see some plants had flowered following the recent rain. 


I was particularly surprised to find an out of season Hellebore flower.


This sweet little rose grows on a wire fence. The flowers buds are usually eaten, before they get a chance to open, by possums walking along the fence. 


It occurred to me while I was in the garden that many northern hemisphere readers of this blog may have never seen the flowers of New Zealand flax (above). They are not large, however they do grow along very long stems.

   

This photo shows some seed pods that, as the season progresses, will become black - as does the stem. The stems with their seed pods make very striking ikebana material.

I made this week's ikebana in Florida back in October last year. It was an experiment using a vessel from my friend Michael's ceramic collection. The vase being particularly tall and having a narrow base is not very stable. 


So I thought one solution to using it would be to place material outside it in such a way that the material would provide additional support. My choice of material was not good as it was too flexible. I should have used a stiff branch. The material was a large philodendron leaf which I stripped leaving the veins only. I drew the ends of the veins together creating a circular shape. I then added a small sunflower as an accent, shown in the photo below.


Thanks to Michael for the materials and the loan of the very striking vessel.

Greetings from Christopher
17th January 2015




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'RED IS THE COLOUR...'

January 23, 2015, 11:43 pm
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The photo below is a Corymbia ficifolia * , growing in the street near our house. These are very popular ornamental trees because they are quite hardy and because of the intense colour of the flowers that are borne in clusters at the end of its branches. Their colour varies from rich red through orange and pink to white.





Above is a close-up photo that shows the flowers have no petals and are made up of hundreds of brightly coloured stamens. I think their colour is intensified by the sunlight passing through the stamens.


This shows the flower buds with their caps still covering the stamens.



Here you can clearly see the cap lifting. 

I associate these flowers with summer and so thought I should arrange some while I had the opportunity. I have used a spherical ceramic vase I bought from an Adelaide gallery in about 1972; I still clearly remember being drawn to it from across the room when I went into the gallery for the first time.  It was made by very skilled ceramic artist, Don Jones, who was working in Adelaide when I lived there. 


This first photo is 'viewed from above', one of the Sogetsu School curriculum exercises.



This second photo shows the flower cluster on the longer stem balancing against the mass of the vase. I have removed most of the thick leaves and carefully rotated the flower heads so that the flowers are not drooping.


Over the last couple of weeks Lennart Persson who writes the, Nordic Lotus Blog, has shown images of ikebana he has created in a collaborative exhibition with some ceramic artists in Oslo. I think his work beautifully complements the ceramics. Here is a link: Nordic Lotus * .

Greetings from Christopher
24th January 2014

* Click on the blue text from further information.

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REFLECTIONS

January 31, 2015, 2:32 am
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On Thursday evening I attended a viewing in the Rio Tinto Gallery, temporary exhibition hall, of the Asian Art Department at the National Gallery of Victoria. The subject of the viewing was a sculpture, newly commissioned by the NGV, created by the Japanese artist Takahiro Iwasaki *. It is called 'Reflection Model (Itsukushima)'. The sculpture is of the Shinto Shrine at the island of Miyajima in Japan's Inland Sea. Wayne Crothers, curator of Asian Art, has written an excellent essay about the work which is on the NGV website *  and spoke about the work at the event. The large sculpture floats suspended in the gallery space, revealing the shrine and its own reflection like some etherial object from another dimension.


This first photo shows the whole of the sculpture including the iconic Torii gate through which, in the past, pilgrims approached the shrine by boat. I really love the way the sculpture inhabits the space. Because it is not attached to anything, it is as though it there and not there at the same time, as though it could suddenly disappear leaving a shrine shaped void.





I visited Miyajima Island when I was in Japan in 2011 as the recipient of the Norman and Mary Sparnon Endowment Scholarship. Below are a night time and early morning photo I took of the Torii.



Next, some more general views of the shrine.



                 


The last photo is of the reflection of part of the shrine on that day.

             *      *      *      *      *      *      *

This week's ikebana does not involve reflections. However, the space between the two vases and the line of the flower stem defines the relationship of the two elements of the ikebana. 



Two blue glass vases with pink, double flowers and leaves, of Oleander  * (nerium oleander).

Greetings from Christopher
31st January 2015

* Click on the coloured text for further information.

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WARM WEATHER: EMPHASISING WATER

February 7, 2015, 2:22 am
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This week marks the beginning of the academic year and children have returned to school after the long summer holidays. It is often the case that the first month of the school year is the hottest. January has been reasonably mild on the south coast, but today we are expecting 35 C. Because of the anticipated heat we took an early morning walk on the beaches west of Torquay and I caught these reflections of the sky in some rock pools.



This reminded me of the theme of the class I gave the evening before, it was: an arrangement 'Emphasising water'. Always an appropriate theme for this time of year. Below are some examples of the students work.



Maureen created both works above. The first with long lines in a suiban leaving a large open water surface and the second in clear glass bowls using green materials only.


Christine also used a suiban arranging berries drooping down toward the water surface that also reflected the lines.



Her second work was a single leaf carefully suspended in a glass vase filled to the top with water.



Ellie arranged these materials both above and below the water and added a single sunflower petal to create a small colour accent.



In her second work she arranged two sunflower heads in a glass bowl and added two stems projecting to the rear to give the work depth.



Vivien, a second year student, created a variation number 3. This is said to be the most 'western' looking of the early curriculum lessons, as the materials are centrally placed in the suiban with the flower projecting forward. 


Above is my work, two stems of Japonica with two fruit attached, arranged in a glass cylinder. 

Greetings from Christopher
7th February 2015
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MEMORIES of SUMMER

February 13, 2015, 6:07 pm
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This week I attended the first meeting of Ikebana International (Melbourne) for 2015. Members are encouraged to create ikebana at the meetings, according to a particular theme. February's theme was 'Memories of Summer Holidays'. I have lived in the seaside town of Torquay, Victoria since childhood and so the first thing that springs to my mind of summer holidays is the beach. However, I learnt a long time ago that a beach is more than sand, water and sunshine. On the exposed cliff tops are wonderful works of nature as you can see below.


In this photo, above, at the edge of the low cliff is a clump of silver-grey cushion bush * (leucophyta brownii). 


On the sand dunes is found marram grass *(Ammophila), a species from the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean, that has now naturalised in many parts of the world where it has been used to 'stabilise' sand dunes. I took the photo above on the east coast of Tasmania in 2011.


Also on the cliff face are found Moona trees (Melaleuca lanceoleta), a low growing tree that develops remarkably twisting branches in the prevailing winds that are a climatic feature of this region.

At the I. I. meeting I was given the task of explaining my interpretation of the theme and demonstrating how I created my ikebana to express my ideas about the theme. First I had to create a support fixture so that a Moona branch 'floated' across the top of the vase. In this instance I used a single length of dowel at a 45 degree angle into the vase that rested on the lip of the opening and which I inserted into the branch. Then I added carefully bundled groups of Cushion Bush, followed by the seed heads of Marram Grass that I had wired together.

                         
A photo of me at the end of the demonstration. Here is a link to more images on the Ikebana International Melbourne * blog.



Above is my first version of this ikebana that I made at home to ensure that the 'mechanics' would hold up and that my ideas were appropriately expressed. The vase is wood-fired ceramic with a shino glaze made by Sergio Sill, a New South Wales potter. The red colour of the glaze has a hot dry, Australian summer feel.

Greetings from Christopher
14th February 2015

* Click on the coloured text for further information
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SUMMER CONTINUES

February 20, 2015, 7:34 pm
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I have been doing some internet research following an enquiry by Gail, who lives in New York State, about the seed heads I used in my 'Memories of Summer' arrangement last week. To my amazement have discovered it is an indigenous plant, spinifex sericeus *, and not marram grass at all. These two grasses look very similar to the untrained eye and share many adaptation features for growing on the harsh environment of sand-dunes. One of their most noticable differences is that the spinifex has the beautiful seed heads I showed last week. In my journey of discovery I also learnt that the nearby town of Barwon Heads, east of Torquay, has a voluntary conservation group that has an excellent website that focusses on a coastal headland and the adjacent marine environment. Check their website: 'Friends of The Bluff' *.



In keeping with the summer theme of last week, the ikebana above also features driftwood and some unidentified fresh flowers I bought. The stems of the  flowers looked a bit like dianthus, however the flowers reminded me of poppies.



I also created this arrangement of nandina domestica leaves, from the garden, in a circular glass and metal vase. I was pleased that I managed to reseal this leaking vase by painting the joins with PVA wood glue the night before. A major advantage of the glue is that it dries clear. I was fascinated by the red edge that developed on the leaves and pleased to have two of them above the water surface.

Greetings from Christopher.
21st February 2015

* click on the blue text for further information.

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FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN

February 28, 2015, 1:42 am
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My ikebana colleague Joan has identified the flowers in the driftwood arrangement in last week's posting as godetia *, a native of the coast of the north west of North America. The description of them being azalea-like strikes me as apt.

The peak of hot summer days seems to have passed and, after extra watering, the roses in the garden have started their second flowering.


In this photo the pale pink is cecile brunner,  a charming, prolifically flowering, small rose. The deeper pink is a climbing lorraine lee * . The cecile brunner  * in our garden is the 'grandchild' of a plant given to me by the father of a friend about 45 years ago.  


Here is a close up of a cecile brunner bud that I find so exquisite. I used to like to wear one in the lapel of my sports coat. It also has a delightful, slightly spicy, perfume.

I took these next photos yesterday in the bright early morning sunlight. 



The poppies had miraculously survived from the spring of 2013 and when I spilt some fertiliser on them they started flowering vigorously again.


This year I have grown some dwarf sunflowers as an experiment and above is the largest of the flowerheads.

When I went to class this week my ikebana teacher asked us to use agapanthus. Because of the summer heat and the lateness of the season most had finished flowering where I live. I cut some finished stems from a friend's garden and removed all the seeds from the heads so that I could emphasise the rather sculptural qualities of the ball of spiky flower stems at the top of the strong stalks.


I pressed the flowerheads together so that they interlocked and were then able to be freestanding without the use of kenzans or any other fixing at the top. The arrangement is formed of two groups so that the space can be emphasised and a dark leaved, orange flowering, canna lily * is used as a contrast. 

Greetings from Christopher
28th February 2015

* Click on the blue text for further information

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