Ikebana lessons 02/27/2009

(1) Elsa: Horizontal arrangement. NZ flax leaves, eucalyptus seed pods, and lily.

(2) Wei: Color of the container. Dogwood, hanging amarantus.

(3) Linda: Basic slanting.

Advanced Ikebana Workshop

Theme: Dried, bleached, or colored materials

(1) Ping: my quick study; silver colored branches (unknown material) and oncidium.
This is a simple arrangement. I try not to mix colors, nor to mix dry and fresh materials. Instead, show the contrast of color and texture of the materials.

(2) Eileen: dried bush branch (unknown bush), bird of paradise and leaves. Well balanced arrangement. The up side down placement of the dried branch form the character of the arrangement. She broke (purposefully) one leave to accentuate the line and provide the depth of the arrangement (soe).

(3) Yuko: dried kiwi vine, NZ flax leave, and protea. This arrangement worked in the way of slight weaving of NZ flax leave, which form the loop coming out of the container. Pin-cushion protea were framed in the loop. Kiwi vine provided lines to accentuate the curve loop.

(4) Coni: mitsumata, protea, and eucalyptus seed pods. It's better not to place the dried materials in water, especially for mitsumata. (It will grow mold and turn the white branch into black if leave the mitsumata in water for a long time.) The movement of the arrangement is horizontal. Proteas are placed low to accommodate the movement direction.

(5) Elsa: colored party sticks, NZ flax leaves, and oncidium. It's a difficult arrangement. Sticks provide so many lines. The key is to confine them in the main direction. Here, oncidium also define the direction, which pull the sticks together in a magic way. Don't leave oncidiums scattered everywhere. Grouping them together is more effective.

Matsuri Festival Feb 2009 video

Ikebana lessons 02/13/2009

Happy Valentines Day.

(1) Eileen, arrangement features water. A very successful arrangement. You don't have to use clear glass vase to do this theme. She stacks two triangular suiban and one round suiban in a such interesting way, the top triangular suiban perched over the round one. The reflection is just right. So, she arranged everything in one cornor, left lots of water showing.
She didn't use sunflower in this arrangement, because sunflower is too strong (see the second arrangement). Let the water speaks out, not a sunflower.

(2) Wei, contrast color. Yellow in front of green, on top of red, what else can you say?

(4) Yuko, arrangement features water

(5) Sandy, No. 3 variation, nageire

(6) Janelle, No. 1 variation, upright, moribana

(7) Linda, Basic upright, moribana. (I liked the reversed arrangement, sorry I didn't take the picture.)

Phoenix Art Museum Exhibit pictures

(1), (2): The arrangement looked like the figure--Eartha Kitt, the legendary cat woman, singer, entertainer, who passed away last Christmas.

(3), (4): arrangements, in the museum and the preparation stage for the museum exhibit.

Phoenix Art Museum Ikebana Exhibit

Ikebana lessons 02/01/2009

Sandy, free style