In the midst of the winter, especially now in the midst of the pandemic, our thoughts and feelings tend to go a bit down or negative. Yet it is the very time when nature is working hard toward the spectacular burst in spring. While walking in our nearby park in Ealing, West London, on a cold grey morning I noticed small shoots pushing out from the cold and wet earth covered in dead leaves and branches. This was a confirmation for my hope that spring is approaching. This inspired me to think about how I can create an Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arrangement) composition. A friend, living nearby in Ealing, had given me some flowers the day before. I wanted to create an Ikebana arrangement expressing hope and spring using these flowers together with some greeneries and dead looking branches that I collected.
After coming back home, I looked carefully at these unique looking materials from the perspective of my Ikebana training. My mind was searching hard to find a composition from my earlier Ikebana training to express my feelings of ‘winter turning to spring’. In making any Ikebana composition I am always thinking of ‘How can I bring out the beautiful features of flowers, greeneries and branches available?’ The skill of Ikebana, that we can learn from the Ikenobo school, is to observe deeply the materials from nature then with techniques and disciplines learnt we choose the appropriate arrangement. I have created three compositions that came out from my heart to express my feeling while displaying the beauty of nature. Today’s Ikebana is to give a taste of spring for you.
