Ikebana and us

It was that time of the month - the 3rd Saturday when the Chennai Sogetsu branch would meet to demo and practice their Ikebana skills. The theme for this month of August was "Showing Surface with Leaves". 14 members of the group gathered at the ABK Hall. The original demonstrators Senseis Meenu and Chitra T had personal emergencies; Senseis Pushkala and Prerana stepped in to ensure that the demonstration was conducted with no hitch. Demos by Senseis Sensei Pushkala’s first composition was created purely with coconut fronds. She improvised a central structure with a banana stem and covered it with coconut fronds. Ingenious! Next she created circular structures, and fixed them all together with pins. She finished with artistic stars also created from coconut fronds - a joyous arrangement springing with life. To complement the arrangement, she chose a coconut leaf-based moribana container - dried and painted. Sensei Pushkala at work on her arrangement ...

Our December meeting was held at ABK on  Saturday the 21st December at ABK with ten members . Sensei Prerana and Sensei Trishala Vaishnav demonstrated with all green material Red ceramic container.Palm leaves, dracena leaves painted and silver dollar painted gold.The arrangement is to celebrate Christmas. For her  arrangement Sensei Prerana had used a long copper tube and arranged her materials in mass. The vase is a discarded container found in a trash bin on the roadside.Cleaned it and spray painted gold and silver to look beautiful.Used palm leaves, crotons and wild red berries. For her first arrangement Sensei Trishala had used an iron vase and inserted pretty garden leaves  in the freestyle For her second arrangement Sensei Trishala had used a classic ceramic container and arranged all green material in the freestyle Members' arrangement at the workshop  Sensei Pushkala. Materials used  by Mrs Pushkala and the write up in her own words: Blue ceramic  c...