free style with haran

久しぶりにレッスンしました。

「苦悩から逃げたしたい」

ていう心境がでちゃってますね。

>Stamford Sakura Matsuri

Piony, hyacinth, eucalyptus leaves

hyacinth, iris, yellow colored kiwi vine, big green leave

The cherry blossom festival was held in Stamford Mill River Park yesterday.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so nice but it seems like quite a few people showed up for the festival.

I volunteered to make two small ikebana arrangements as a member of the Japan Society of Fairfield County. Top one was for the Japan aid desk and the bottom one was for the sumie table. It was a bit windy outside so the leaves fell down and flowers were moving around in a container...things were falling apart. I guess I need to keep in mind these factors when i make an arrangement for outside display.

> Happy New Year 2012!

spray roses, myrtle,
eucalyptus leaves, gold painted dried straw

明けまして、おめでとうございます。今年も皆さんにとって良い年になります様に。そして、東日本大震災で被災された方々が立ち直られ、町が一日も早く復興しますようにお祈りしています。

相変わらずお花を生ける時間はありませんが（涙）、スーパーで手に入る花で生けてみました。
ああ、NYの花マーケットが懐かしい！あそこでいろんな季節の枝ものや、花達を買って来て生けたいものです。

左と右を対照的にでも全体的にバランスよくなるよう仕上げました。
右のラインは写真ではちょっと見難いですが、勢い良く動いていて見ていて元気が出る感じにしました。

halloween arrangement

I haven't had a chance to do ikebana so long, I feel like I am forgetting about the basics.
This is the variation No.4 Upright style.

I checked my daily schedule if I can managed to have even one day to practice ikebana in our busy life, but i don't know, it would be hard.... I guess it will be a good practice to make arrangement in a short period of time though. But I kind of like the therapeutic quality of ikebana, when I can completely focus my attentions to flowers and allow myself forgetting everything else.

My intention was to make a Halloween arrangement, but it's not so spooky.

> Ikebana with an Ice Container

Sunday June 26, 2011

Mrs. Fumiko Allinder's flower class visited Okamoto Studio in Long Island City for ice container workshop. Mr. Okamoto is a very talented and well-known ice sculptor who works for a big client like Tiffany, Channel, and NBC etc. in New York. (Please check out his website. His work is amazing!!!)

It was my first time to make something out of ice.
First we draw a design of the container. Then, Mr. Okamoto shaped the ice with his chainsaw according to our designs. After that, we started adding textures on the surface or curving lines to create different effects.

Ice was melting as we work so every minute it was slightly changing how it looked. In a way, it's a nostalgic process...
Flower arranging is a same kind of art that it changes its shape as the time goes by but it's a much slower pace compare to the ice sculpting. You can't worry about the detail design because it smooths out in a few minutes anyway. I learned you have to make deep and clear cuts or lines to create a definition on the ice.

Few of my friends' works can be viewed in here.

Mr. Okamoto's tools..











Work in progress...











Mr. Okamoto using chainsaw

> Haran, Aucuba, & Rose

Haran (aspidistra) looked so beautiful that they turned their colors from green to bright yellow. I think they were left in a bucket for few weeks. I find it's so fascinating as they coming close to die, once again they shine with this bright yellow. I wish I could shine like that again when I'm coming close to my death.

Because they were not completely dried yet, I could make shapes in anyway I wanted.

ハランがグリーンから何とも鮮やかな黄色に変化していてとても綺麗でした。何週間かバケツに置き去りにされていたものと思われます。枯れて死が近づいているにもかかわらず、ここでもう一度と言わんばかりに美しい黄色で輝くその姿、とてもすごいなと思います。私も死が近づいた頃そんな風に輝いていたいものです(o^^o)

完璧にまだドライになっていなかったので、すきな形に作る事ができました。

> Brooklyn Sakura Matsuri 2011

This year i used dried palm tree parts as a main material. They almost looked like a drift wood, inside was dark brown and outside had smooth and beautifully preserved stripes. If you try to buy them in 28th street, they would've cost fortune! But the ones i used were actually from my mother-in-low Mary Ellen, she brought them to me all the way from Florida! She said she knew i would love them and use them for Ikebana when she saw them in the park where she was having a walk. Well, you were right Mary Ellen. I loved them. Those two pieces inspired me to create this work.

A lot of people came to see our ikebana arrangements this year as well. I hope everyone who visited enjoyed our show and get inspired by the beauty of Ikebana.

Thank you so much Sensei (Mrs. Allinder) for this wonderful opportunity to exhibit.
Thank you Mary Ellen for supporting my ikebana creation.
and Thank you my husband William for taking care of Layla while i was gone for 4 days to do this event. I really appreciate your support and understanding. You are the super daddy and husband! I love you so much.


By Mrs. Allinder
By Jin
By Mrs. Ikura
By Mika
By Mrs. Abe
By Lily
By Casey
By Maye
By Catharine
By Sue

Spring Admiration

I have to say French Pussy willow is one of my favorite materials to work with. It is very flexible to create the shapes and I love its color. It is amazing how their fine lines can add graceful but yet dynamic dimension to the arrangement.

The left side branches are "yoshino" cherry tree. I love their modest beauty.
I can't wait to see them bloom!
Today's arrangement expresses the admiration for the spring.

フレンチネコヤナギは大好きな花材の一つです。
よく曲がって形をつけやすいですし、色も大好きです。
こんなに細い線でも、可憐でかつダイナミックに奥行きを出せるのがすごいところです。

左側の枝物はソメイヨシノです。なんとも奥ゆかしいその美しさがすきです。
早く咲いてほしい！
春の訪れを心待ちにする気持ちを表現してみました。伝わりましたか？

Amarilis & Willow

I wish I have containers like my sensei does.

Choosing a right container is a big part of your Ikebana design.

I think it has a nice balance as a whole.

I made this arrangement as I was thinking of my high school friends father who recently past away.

Christmas Arrangement

This was the last arrangement I made at sensei's class in 2010.
Theme is... Christmas!! in Japanese style i suppose.

My life has been very busy with Layla since March, but with my husband and my family members big support, i managed to pursue my passion to make "flower arrangements" whenever i had a chance. I am very thankful for that.

As far as 2011 goes, I would like to improve my skills in flower arrangement in general but most importantly, continue to thrive to find "my flower," my very own way of expression through flowers. I hope i can show some interesting arrangements this year!

> Pumpas Grass

I enjoyed making arrangement in this antique wooden pail ( in Japanese it is called "oke"). Usually it looks good with a delicate style arrangement but i wanted to try creating a dynamic design using these pampas grass.

In order to give it a rhythm, i gave a partial "hair cut" in one of them.

> Flax leaves

Flax leaves are very useful for establishing height, width, and dramatic effect on a design. As the leaves are sculptural foliage, you can make them into almost any shapes. Sometimes we use a wire on a back side of the leaves to fortify them and and create shapes.

Here i made them into a variety forms; straight sharp line, big curvy line, unexpected shapes by shredding them and bending them.

It is fun to find out the spontaneous expressions through them.

> basic upright style moribana

i tend to make slanting style a lot so i tried an upright style today for a change. i wasn't sure if the "shin" was strong enough because usually you would strengthen the "shin" with "jushi." But i kind of liked the line going up like that so i left it that way.

いつも傾真型ばかりになりがちなので、今日は気分を変えて立真型に挑戦してみました。真は従枝によってラインを強くするのが普通なので、果たしてちゃんと強く表現されているか不安でしたが、上に伸びて行くスッキリしたラインが好きだったのでそのままにしました。

> scotch broom

This was the last arrangement i've done in class before having Layla.
i miss my ikebana class....（＞＜）
Scotch broom is easy to bend but hard to create a visually effective shape.
it requires a lot of trimming, bending and your patience.

> dancing branches

I totally forgot the name of these branches....but they are good material to learn "bending" and "trimming" techniques. They are just straight branches with lots of leaves but you can turn them into different expressions by carefully bending and trimming those leaves.

This year, I was soooooo into watching winter Olympic games and especially inspired by those figure skating athletes. I wanted to capture their artistic dancing expressions that were carefully paid attentions to the tip of their fingers through these branches. Hope my attempt was successful!

名前をすっかり忘れてしまったのですが、この枝もの花材は、「ためる」と「すく」テクニックをお勉強するのに最適です。マーケットで売られている時はただまっすぐでたくさん葉のついた枝たちですが、これらの枝をためたり、葉をすくことによって、違った表現が可能です。

今年私は、冬期オリンピックを釘付けになって見ていましたが、特にフィギュアスケートの選手達にとてもインスピレーションを受けました。彼女達の指の先まで神経の行き届いたあの芸術性の高い表現をこれらの枝を通して私も表現したかったのです。うまく伝わったでしょうか？

> forsythia

now forsythia is in season.
for some reason, forsythia i use doesn't bloom in full... (;ﾟдﾟ)why....
but instead, lime green leaves are coming out. they are also very pretty.

camellias that i'm using in a bottom part have a lot of buds.
my friend Lily told me her camellia bloomed when she kept spraying water to them.
so i'm watering them every day. i hope to see them bloom!

今の時期、蓮翹（レンギョウ）の花がよく出回っています。
なぜだか、私の使うレンギョウは満開になってくれず。。。その代わりに、ライムグリーンの葉がたくさん出てきました。それはそれで、とてもきれいです。

下の方に使っているカメリアにはたくさんの花のつぼみがついています。
花友達のリリーが言うには、毎日水吹きでお水をあげていたら大きな花が咲いたそうなので、私も今毎日お水をあげています。咲いてくれるとうれしいです。

> tulip

i love tulips because you can make beautiful lines and movement with them.
the problem is....you'll find them in totally different position next day and you have to fix the arrangement all over because they tend to follow where the sunshine is. But that's also a fun thing to work with live flowers i think.

i can't wait to see the forsythia and lilies bloom.

チューリップによって美しいラインや動きを表現できるので私は好きです。
問題なのは、太陽の光に反応して動くので次の日になると全く違う場所に移動してしまう事です。でもそれもまた生きた花を使う事の楽しみ（驚き）の一つのような気がします。

フォシシアやリリーが咲くとまた違ったイメージなると思うので楽しみです。

２番目の写真でチューリップの動きが伝わるでしょうか？

> a happy new year!

it's been really cold in new york i can't wait for Spring to come!!

i made a spring feeling arrangement.
do you feel it?


ニューヨークはずっと寒くて、春が待ちどうしいです！

春を感じるアレンジメントを作ってみました。
感じますか？

> camellia

for some reason, i saw camellias in the market all year long this year.

i wanted to use only camellias but looked too simple, so i added nerines.

nerine is a long lasting flower but its stem is very week.
in a few days later when i recreated the arrangement (top photo), most of nerines stems are broken or rotten.

> cat tail

In this arrangement, these cat tails are completely dry.
i think it's fascinating how some of the flowers and leaves change into dramatic shapes when they become dry. it's like they capture the final moment of their lives. some of them look graceful, some of them look solemn....

The leaves are making whimsical curls so i used these lines as a design point.

i've never seen this color easter lily. they are very pretty.

このアレンジに使用している蒲の穂は完全にドライです。
前にも記載しましたが、私はドライのマテリアルをアレンジに使うのが大好きです。植物によってはドライになるとドラマティックな形に変化したりして、たまらなくかっこいいー♪と思うのです。なんというか、彼らが生きた最後の瞬間を閉じ込めている様な。。。時には優美であったり、時には神聖な感じがしたりするのです。

今回の蒲の穂の葉っぱも、くるくると優しいラインを造り出していました。
それをポイントにデザインしてみました。

テッポウユリはたいてい白が主流ですが、このタイプの色のテッポウユリとは初めて出会いました。とてもかわいらしいですね。