Wednesday…with frosty Ikebana

Photo 20-01-2016, 11 10 47The snow from the weekend has melted, but the frost has set in this week, which is something I don’t mind at all if it doesn’t kill the echiums and the sun is shining…I love how the whites of snow and frost are actually often some sort of blue depending on the light…
Photo 20-01-2016, 08 35 53 (1) I cycled up to the Ditchling Beacon this morning and although I’ve done it loads of times this morning was so beautiful in it’s coldness…Photo 20-01-2016, 08 41 31 Photo 20-01-2016, 08 41 59 ( this is me looking like a Victorian postman on some sort of penny farthing! )Photo 20-01-2016, 08 42 45 Photo 20-01-2016, 08 43 48 Photo 20-01-2016, 08 35 36 I cycled on to Stanmer Park nearby as it was all too nice to rush back the normal route…Photo 20-01-2016, 09 08 18 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 08 32 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 08 50 (1) Photo 20-01-2016, 09 09 22 When I got back I felt really inspired by how I found it so beautiful even though there’s a lack of bright colour at the moment…just loads of twigs, blueness and a sense of structure…

So, it’s actually a perfect time of year for an Ikebana arrangement as there’s so much form and simplicity out there at the moment, with just those little pops of otherness…
Photo 20-01-2016, 09 45 29 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 45 49 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 46 50 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 47 15 I wanted the arrangement to reflect my bike ride in some way, so went into my garden to try and find things which I thought may be able to capture some sense of that…Photo 20-01-2016, 09 51 25 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 52 10 Photo 20-01-2016, 09 53 25 ( I also had a little black and white experiment inspired by Karl Blossfeld…this is a direct link, but if you Google him with ‘images’ you’ll get his incredible photos en masse! )Photo 20-01-2016, 09 54 48 Choosing the ikebana vessel is important…Holly Bell made me these 2 light ones for Christmas, and I wanted to use them, but I thought this arrangement would probably work better with a larger base…Photo 20-01-2016, 10 30 33 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 37 50 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 39 33 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 39 56 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 40 13 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 41 34 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 41 59 You have to start somewhere, and I love this common hogweed seed head which I’d picked even though it was the last one left…Photo 20-01-2016, 10 44 34 but it didn’t really work…

I wanted to reflect the landscape more…

Photo 20-01-2016, 08 44 27…so it disappeared!Photo 20-01-2016, 10 46 09 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 48 36 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 49 49 Photo 20-01-2016, 10 52 03 I wanted to create a sense of the cycling; the wind in my face, everything going past so quickly and glances into the hedgerows…Photo 20-01-2016, 11 06 32 …and I just added a hint of Spring as it was definitely lurking out there this morning even in an underground sort of way…Photo 20-01-2016, 11 08 51 …and these are the leftovers!Photo 20-01-2016, 11 12 21

I’ll be running a short Ikebana style workshop in a couple of weekends time at Arlo & Jacob in London, in which I’ll demonstrate and also give some firm ideas and starting points on how to create your own arrangements similar to this one…a sort of story telling though simplicity and the frugal sense of season, with a definite sense of place and relevance .

There’s more information about here and in a blog post here, and if you’d like to book a place you’ll be able to here.

I’ll be bringing all the ikebana ceramics, flowers and twigs, and there’ll be free coffee, cake… and popcorn ( I’m obsessed with popcorn at the moment! ) and we’ll be able to look at the photography aspect too once you’ve created your pieces.

( You can see a Steller story here which has lots of pictures of the space where the workshop will be held )

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