Today, I used two containers that have very strong flat surfaces. I made them to lie on their sides, one overlapping the other, to form a kind of bridge.
I used a mix of pink anastasia, dark red carnation and orange lily to make a low (not tall) composition.
Plus, some white hypericum to draw out a light and gentle line.
Here is the whole arrangement.
....and viewed another angle.
I hope you like it. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
We are a proud sponsor of Momentum, the 2014 exhibit of the Ikebana International, Ottawa Centennial Chapter 120. Please visit if you are in the area!
I am very thankful to our friend, Patti, who brought us a bunch of bittersweet vine branches last autumn.
I had let them dry entwined. Now I used them for this arrangement.
It was no longer possible to bend or shape them because the branches were dry and would break easily so I had to use them in their natural state. But, I could still cut and trim, of course!
I arranged the branches to show a climbing movement from the bottom of the vase, merging with other branches at the top of the vase and still reaching further upwards. The ornithogalum moved in the same rhythm as the bittersweet.
Here is the whole arrangement.
I hope you like it. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
The annual Koshogatsu (Little New Year) celebration at St. Mary's University has evolved into Japanesque, a Japanese cultural festival. With the new format comes more flexibility as the event can now be celebrated at different times of the year and not be tied down to the Little New Year (which occurs at the first full moon of the year). This year 2014, the inaugural Japanesque was held last Sunday, Feb 2nd at SMU's Sobey building.
Dr. Alexandre Avdulov, coordinator of the Japanese Language and Culture Program, gives the opening remarks.
The event was organized by the Japanese Language and Culture Program, Department of Modern Languages and Classics of St. Mary's University, with the support of the Consulate General of Japan at Montreal. Members of the local community also shared their time and skills. Plus, the Japanese-Canadian Cultural Exchange Society of SMU was involved too.
There were many cultural demonstrations and workshops...
We were honoured to give the demonstration of ikebana.
L-R: Dr. J. Colin Dodds, President of St. Mary's University; Miyako Ballesteros, ikebana artist; and Mr. Tatsuo Arai, Consul General of Japan at Montreal.
Thank you to all who joined in the activities. We hope you enjoyed the afternoon! Thank you to all the organizers, supporters and sponsors for making this happen. It was a wonderful event and we hope to see you again next year.
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
After strong snowstorms like the last one we experienced, I always get gifts of fallen branches. The pine branch I used for this arrangement was one such gift.
Before starting on the arrangement, I took some time admiring this branch. The main branch, strong and straight was pointing towards the heavens.
There were also smaller curling branches which I situated horizontally over the mouth of the vase to appear like little wavelets.
The pink spray mums and oregonia leaves did not project any powerful and distinctive colours.
But they were perfect to create a sense of harmony. The straight pine branch rising from the sea, reaching for the sky, just visible in the horizon. Do you see it? :-)
Here is the whole arrangement.
I hope you like it. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
For my first arrangement in the New Year, I used an old container! This heart-shaped container would go well with thin lines.
I removed all the leaves from the English boxwood branches and put them on the right side to show lines. But, in their midst, I included some branches with leaves. It was as if to show new life being breathed into the bare branches.
On the left side, a single pink carnation nestled in green hypericum. Then, small dogwood branches with their tiny leaves pretending to be butterflies hovering over the flower!
My thoughts were towards a new year, a new spring. May we all have a fantastic year ahead of us!
Here is the whole arrangement. I hope you like. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
This was my last ikebana arrangement for 2013.
Normally, I use dogwood branches for the beautiful lines that they create. This time, I challenged myself to do something different. I looked at the bundled up dogwood branches in my hands and thought that bunched together, they looked pretty too!
I chose a flower container with a solid vertical surface and matched that with the thickest parts of the dogwood branches.
To further augment the colour contrast between the red branches and the black container, I added some green oregonia. This makes the arrangement more cohesive.
As it was, the arrangement was calm and tranquil...but too calm! It was static; so I added long branches diagonally across to sort of "pinch" the arrangement. This added some movement.
Here is the whole arrangement.
...and here is another view.
I hope you like it. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
As we get closer to the holiday season, I thought I'd point my ikebana towards the season's colours. I used mainly red dogwood and holly (ilex) branches.
The container I chose was a bright red-orange one with an interesting elongated C-shape.
I curled three of the red dogwood branches to match the shape of the container.
Did you notice that the holly branch was not coming out of the mouth of the container? Holly could last for quite a bit even without water; so I merely placed it on the outside. Sometimes, working with material without the restriction of having to put it in water is a pleasure!
I wanted to highlight the container's shape so I used only a minimum of plant material.
Here is the whole arrangement.
I hope you like it. --Miyako
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
In the past year or so, we have had frequent contact with an ikebanista from Chile. Her name is Ana Luisa Quiñones and she holds a 4th Grade Teacher's Diploma in the Sogetsu School. She is also an orthoptist in Santiago, Chile. Our correspondence started when she purchased some flower containers from us online. Since then she has been sharing many things about ikebana in Chile.
The materials she uses are all very exotic to us. Also, makes us very envious! :-)
In this one below, she uses Chilean palm leaves that she hand-wove into a net. The huge white flower is a King White protea cynaroides and the fluffy material is lichen from Patagonia. The arrangement was her contribution to the Ikebana International Exhibit in Santiago last June, 2012, which focused on the Chilean palm.
More Chilean palm! Very creative use of the palm tree seed pod.
This creation uses vellon patagonico--unspun sheep's wool from Patagonia...still raw and delicate.
Here is a simple one with big hydrangea and some horsetail branches. The flower container is familiar! ;-)
...and this one with small roses and young bamboo leaves. The bamboo provide a light and gentle space for the roses, which almost feel like butterflies fluttering about! The containers look familiar too, by the way! ;-)
Apart from ikebana, Ana Luisa likes to work in the kitchen too. ...and she likes matcha! Aren't the cakes mouth-watering? :-)
Last but not least, she sends us a photo of a familiar figure--our hand-made owl. She calls him the "sympathetic owl". It stays in her clinic and makes her young patients happy!
Thank you very much, Ana Luisa for sharing your ikebana adventures with us!
All photos courtesy of Ana Luisa Quiñones. Used with permission.
Bob, the husband of our friend and ikebana student, Patti, dropped by the shop one day bearing gifts of branches. He said it was a kind of dogwood but it had fruits hanging on them!
It is called "yamaboushi" in Japanese. A little research told us it is called the Kousa dogwood. The fruit is actually edible and is supposed to be sweet when ripe...but I didn't take a bite! :-) I was quite thrilled to be able to use such an unusual branch for ikebana!
I chose a bamboo container for this arrangement. The delicately latticed bamboo basketwork brought an air of lightness to the space.
I arranged the fruit around the very thin branches...as if they were bursting right out of the container!
Here's a top view.
And just when you thought the arrangement is complete, I added a thicker branch with an opposite movement...just to surprise you with something unexpected! :-)
Here is the complete arrangement. I hope you like it. --Miyako
A very special thank you to Patti and Bob for always bringing interesting branches to me!
All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.
