SETTLING IN WITH IKEBANA

Misty today, but a balmy 70˚. Mockingbird runs through her songbook outside my open window. A chipping sparrow relentlessly whittles away.

Dearest Readers,

I’m banged up, but finally getting back to blogging and to my life in GA after a summer in VT and a long drive home. I’m icing my jaw today after periodontal surgery, and sporting a semi-immobilizing cast on my left arm after a fall on the sidewalk in Brooklyn last month that also cracked my knee-cap. Life is doable, but clumsy.

 

Canna leaves_dried hydrangea and mulberry leaf_Decatur GA backyard10.13.2013

Canna flower, leaf and seed pods_mulberry branch_Decatur GA backyard10.13.2013

I made two ikebana arrangements this weekend from the remnants of foliage and flowers around my condo complex. It felt good to be creative. Please note that I take some liberties with the rules of Ikebana. I usually am sure to include the three main plant elements that represent heaven, earth and humanity, and the small guys called “helpers” , but I play around with the stem angles, often adjusting the recommended degree of tilt in favor of an inner sense of equilibrium.

I’ve also included a selection of woodland ikebanas I created in Vermont. Some you’ve already seen in previous blogs. The plants I used grew wild along the forested roadsides in a Northeastern region of the state that is moderately mountainous, damp and often dimly lit. Some flowers are invasives, like the Queen Anne’s Lace in the piece called Evening Ikebana, and a few seem to be runaway outcroppings of vegetation from nearby landscaping, like the thorny rosehips from a seed that found a patch of extended sunlight. That’s my guess. 

Bushy aster, unknown seed cases, branches and goldenrod_Peacham VT 9.5.2013

Day lilies, ferns_Peacham VT 7.22.2013

Evening Ikebana_Queen-Anne's-Lace, branches and misc. wild greenery_Peacham VT 7.29.2013

Goldenrod, "eyeball" berries (my name), unknown cluster-flower over a woodland leaf_Peacham VT 9.3.2013

Black eyed susans, bishop's weed, and misc. woodland greenery_Peacham VT 7.22.2013

Goldenrod and wild berries_Peacham VT 8.13.2013

1. Eyeball and poison berries (my names), and woodland foliage_Peacham VT9.3.2013

2. Same arrangement reworked of eyeball and poison berries (my names) + spiny wild cucumber_Peacham VT 9.5.2013

Rosehips, goldenrod, and wild berries with foliage_Peacham VT 8.22.2013

Wild grass, eyeball berries (my name), woodland berries with foliage, and black-eyed susans_8.24.2013

Wildflower bells, vetch, fern and unknown yellow star flowers_Peacham VT 7.2.2013

 

That's it. I'm getting  back on the " art horse".