Ikebana and us

After our summer break, the Chennai Sogetsu Study Group met again on July 11th, at Amethyst , adjacent to the flower shop. It was very convenient to have the flower shop handy, and the ambience was also enjoyable. We missed Shobhaa and Venkatesh, this month, and hopefully they will be back next time. The theme for this workshop was colour and the members brought it out in different ways. By Prerana Prerana contrasted the white of her combination vases, with the colour of the agapanthus and chrysanthemums. By Padma sensei For Padma sensei, the red of the vase was highlighted, in a Christmassy colour combination! By Trishala Trishala emphasisized the green of her vase, with more use of green material. By Chitra The glamourous red of the anthuriums were highlighted by Chitra. By Seethalakshmi For Seetha, it was blue and yellow, both the shape of the container and the colours working to produce a pleasing effect. By Nirmala The orange of the palm berries matched the orange of the dramati

Theme: 'Colour' . You may express 'colour' either in the container or with materials Date: July 11th Monday Venue: At the verandah adjacent to Amythest Flower shop, Whites Road Chennai Time: 11am. Please do bring along friends/students whom may be interested. Amethyst vases will be available as well. Looking forward to getting together again after our summer break!

I had the opportunity to attend the June programme of the Bangalore Sogetsu chapter, during my recent stay in the city. Menaka Venugopal was the artsite at work, who gave an interesting and colourful demonstration of what she called " pushpa veni ". She invited ladies to enjoy colours while dressing and innovated on the traditional form of flower threading and garland-making. Some common flowers she displayed were nandivittal, jasmine and also Dutch Roses and orchids. In the picture, you can see Dutch Roses, the petals are removed, the white ends take the outer position, so they get a little white showing on the petals. By using a little imagination you could bring out the needed colours to match your attire. Here, she has taken the Jasmine buds inwards, and displayed the stalks as well. It did get a new look as a result! These floral venis could be used for the traditional ornamentation of the plaited hair-do or gathered up into a bun. the pieces were about 9 inches long.In