Journal archive
August 19, 2011
At home for the day, before heading back to our retreat. I brought a touch of the bay back with me, a few small pieces of driftwood. In the garden I collected a few fading summer flowers to use. Everything except the driftwood is still fresh. I cut a branch of maple from the tree […]
Read story →August 18, 2011
This week I have scouted out a few places along the stretch of beach here on the bay outside our artist’s “retreat” to use to make my daily arrangements. It’s a chance to get outside the studio and use things not normally available to me, and with each day I am finding more and more […]
Read story →August 17, 2011
My walk along the beach today yielded lots of options for today’s ikebana. I found some wild hot pink sweet peas, black roots, a small piece of driftwood, an oyster shell, grasses and a piece of water worn bone to use. The materials I gleaned could not have been more perfect for this arrangement, everything […]
Read story →August 16, 2011
As promised I did an arrangement with some grasses, which I thought were bulrushes at first, and used them to make lots of straight lines. The patterns are much like the sails on the sailboats I’m seeing out on the Chesapeake Bay each day. I added some green and white variegated hosta leaves, a couple […]
Read story →August 15, 2011
This freestyle ikebana arrangement was done with some quickly gathered materials this evening. We’re on an artist’s “retreat” for a while. I found some variegated euonymus, roses, porcelain berry, crape myrtle, and a few bay grasses. Rains and thunderstorms kept me from getting out and really looking for more materials, but still I found quite […]
Read story →August 14, 2011
For the last few days I have had some boxwood clippings just waiting to be used. They are short and I thought they might be good for some type of ikebana showing mass.I went through several containers trying to find the right one and came up with this clear glass vase that I thought was […]
Read story →August 13, 2011
This has been the most difficult day so far, I ran out of steam and energy after a long day. It has really mad me realize what a difficult project I’ve begun, and how much momentum and dedication I need to keep it going. My hope was that a small power nap would revive me […]
Read story →August 12, 2011
Another try at manipulating leaves, this time with monstera leaves and a differeent technique for the equisetum. The monstera leaves I cut into “squares” to try to give them a different look and feel, the equisetum was curled at one end to given them an interesting look (almost like fern curls). Manipulating leaves is getting […]
Read story →August 11, 2011
A single bloom of blue clematis and some fantail willow made for a lovely ikebana arrangement today. I had a rock that I wanted to use today to make another “hana kubari” styled design and those waiting elements were perfect. The arrangements from yesterday and today were both in tune with my partner Frederick who […]
Read story →August 10, 2011
This arrangement is made using a technique called “hana kubari”, it’s basically a way of using natural materials as the fixture to hold a flower or flowers in place. The small melon is used as the hana kubari to hold the orange zinnia. This melon was a vounteer plant in the garden, and in fact […]
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