Three years ago when we originally showed this tree we didn't have any idea who the artist was. We were none the wiser until someone offered this in the comments (from the second posting last year ): "The first sabina juniper you mention is from Patrick Cremers.." Once we had a name it was easy to find this newer and better photo (the original is below).
This post is worth a third time. It’s rich in bonsai beauty and information. First time was titled The Trend Only Gets More Outrageous (be sure to read the comments). The second was There Are No Rules (but What About Guidelines?). Some people keep insisting on rules, but of course rules are made to be broken (in art for sure) and even guidelines, though often useful, are never cast in stone.
Speaking of guidelines, we've got a brand new bonsai book that is the best on guidelines (principles in this case) that we've seen for a long long time. In fact, we can say with complete confidence that it's destined to be a bonsai standard. It's titled Principles of Bonsai Design and it's by David De Groot (more below).
One thing I failed to mention in both earlier posts is how the main tree (above) points (with at least two pointers no less) to the secondary tree which in turn points to the mysterious little companion. You don’t usually see the relationship between objects so obviously stated, but it works for me.
The old rules of bonsai, if they ever really existed (they didn’t), were broken as soon as they were made and the trend only gets more outrageous (in whatever sense you prefer: out·ra·geous: shockingly bad or excessive, wildly exaggerated or improbable, very bold, unusual, and startling).
As you can see, this common Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) belongs to Harry Harrington. It was developed from an old hedgerow tree collected in 2004. At the risk of stating the obvious, it's the way the pot by Victor Harris) and the base of tree play together that gives this one its cachet.
This lonely persimmon is from the recent Taikan Bonsai Exhibition. I borrowed the photo from Bill Valavanis, who was there (Bill is everywhere) and who took the photo, along with a whole bunch of other photos. In any case, I'm scratching my head a bit about this one, though knowing how much Japanese people appreciate fruit and flowers on bonsai, I guess you could say it's about being touched by fleeting beauty. Something like that.
This collected Norway spruce (Picea abies) belonged to Walter Pall when this photo was shot. I don't think Walter considered it styled at this point, but there's something about its flowing naturalness that I like. Walter traded it Mauro Stemberger who said, according to Walter, that "he wanted to 'Italianize' it and he did. Together with his friend he worked for three hours and the result (below) speaks for itself."
The Spruce from just above, that belonged to Walter and now belongs to Mauro. Tamed a bit now.
Not a great photo, but a remarkably unusual tree. Like the one at the top of the post, it's from Estação Bonsai and also unattributed.
The lead photo from the original post.
Brand NEW – Principles of Bonsai Design is now at Stone Lantern
By David De Groot. If you know who Dave is, you’ll have a
pretty good idea of just how excellent and thorough this book really is