The Sun Gallery 朱雀 Vermillion Phoenix
Spring
My essay: Tokyo Blossoms
Flower Art: Makoto Azuma Hardcover
Flora Magnifica: The Art of Flowers in Four Seasons
by Makoto Azuma
On Flowers: Lessons from an Accidental Florist
by Amy Merrick
Her artistic vision is mainly like 茶花 chabana flower arrangement favored in tea ceremony... arrangements that look like the flowers as they are found in the field. She has her luxury high impact roses and Yves Saint Laurent carnations... but her heart seems rooted in the gardens at Sissinghurst and in Ikebana. High impact wow flowers and humble meadow and wild flowers all find a place in the book. An English garden and a tea room in Japan... her book is gorgeous, charming and kind-hearted.
I loved her chapter on "foraging".... like "maple leaf hunting" and mushroom hunting in Japan, there are flowers you appreciate from a distance and there are leaves and branches you gather and bring home... I purchased a tiny pair of Japanese scissors to keep in my walking bag for foraging (My neighbors should love that!) Really, in LA, everything now is private property... it is so sad. I press flowers regularly and always have fresh flowers at home.. but I think it is time really to learn how to garden. Wonderful book!
Winter
Last Year, I began revisiting Japanese flower arrangements and foraging. This year, I started a class at the London Floral School called DUTCH MASTERS FLORAL COURSE. I also took a class at the Huntington gardens. I am reading Flower Hunters by Lucy Hunter (review--not by me-- here) I also realized Lauren Groff, whose award-winning novel Matrix I read this year, wrote a short story called Flower Hunters (New Yorker)
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