Winter is one of my favourite seasons for ikebana in Madrid. It’s the season that most reminds me of Canberra, where we used to live in Australia. The days are crisp and the wind, blowing from the snow-covered mountains, is bitterly cold. Despite the chill, the skies are crystal clear and blue. The sun hangs much lower in winter and as a result, the beauty of the bare branches is highlighted through their sun-filled silhouettes.
Without the overabundance of leaves, it is far easier to forage for beautiful branches in winter. While walking through one of our local parks we collected branches and strips of bark. On returning home we scoured our garden for the last remains of greenery, not destroyed by the frost.
Having selected a vase and kenzan, my daughters arranged the bark they had collected, using it as a support for the New Zealand flax they had cut from the garden. As a single point of colour, they decided on chrysanthemums, leftover from previous classes.
