Mass with Line #2

Master Instructor Sozan Nakamaura conducted today’s class with the theme Book 3 Lesson 13 (lucky number for some) but this morning the luck of my creativity totally vanished. It was the strangest feeling loosing my way in creating an arrangement.
All I can put it down to was I was preoccupied with the base work for my exhibition piece where I had to do something very quickly in the Atelier’s department. It bought it home to me that you must be in the frame of mind to be creative, totally relaxed, happy and composed.

The material I selected was Horsetail and Statice plus a container which looking back did not inspire me. I massed the Statice, the Horsetail was the line element line, it worked but there is no dynamic energy. I think this is the only arrangement I haven’t enjoyed during the whole of my scholarship studies.

One point Sensei emphasised was once the mass is formed, trim it creating an even tighter form. By trimming you remove the ‘feathery’ edges of the mass. The Japanese word for this is ‘Karikomi’ such a wonderful sound it inspired me to trim everything.

Not to be defeated I attempted the theme again in the afternoon, composed, happy and creative I enjoyed working with a kind of Cyprus, which I massed through the small holes of the container. I then massed Euphorbia to give a tonal variation to the green. To create the line I peeled the branch of the Cyprus then inserting it into the mass. The overall image reminded me of an abandoned building with a tree growing through it.