Freedom, Artistry & Boundless Enthusiasm

Sometimes the toughest choice I make all day is deciding which tree to show first. All seven bonsai shown here exhibit the sense of freedom and artistry that caught my attention and helped make that other tough decision; what or who to blog about. Finally, this wildly uninhibited juniper (the one I saw first) won out. It and the rest of the trees shown here belong to Isao Omachi. Whether you like Isao Omachi’s bonsai or not (though it’s hard for me to understand why anyone wouldn’t), you have to admire his boundless enthusiasm and playfulness, which even if you … Continue reading Freedom, Artistry & Boundless Enthusiasm

An Outrageous Explosion

This perfect curlycue has to be among the all time greats when it comes to distinctive deadwood. The tree belongs to the very talented Minoru Akiyama. The photo appears just the way I found it, with the apex and most of the pot missing. The art of carving bonsai deadwood was popularized by Masahiko Kimura and his custom power tools back in the 80s and 90s. Now a couple decades later amazing deadwood (and not so amazing deadwood) is everywhere with more and more outrageously wild examples popping up. Though this explosion of jin and shari is not everyone’s cup … Continue reading An Outrageous Explosion

Dreams of Flowering Bonsai

Sabamiki and uro. Aside from its overall power and beauty, there are a several things that might catch your eye: the flowers and buds, the aged bark (Ume bark develops an aged look fairly fast) and the hollowed out trunk (sabamiki). If you look closely you can also see several uro (small hollows that are left on deciduous trees where branches have rotted and fallen off, though bonsai uro may well be man made). We’re venturing back into the deep riches of our archives once again. This one is from July 2012 (with a little present tense editing). Seems like … Continue reading Dreams of Flowering Bonsai

Extreme Beauty

This may be the the best Camellia bonsai you’ll ever see. Not that there are that many good camellia bonsai, at least not in my experience. No matter, the strong trunk, great display of flowers, the brilliant emerald foliage and excellent pot, make for an exceptional tree. A truly remarkable and unique new book arrived yesterday. All the photos in this post are from Extreme Beauty, A Life Devoted to Bonsai. As far as I know, there are only 25 copies of Extreme Beauty available in the U.S (before you bust me, please be aware that ‘as far as I … Continue reading Extreme Beauty

Lime Sulfur: A Story with a Happy Ending

How many bottles of lime sulfur were used on this monster? I find this tree to be compelling in so many ways (much has to do with shear size, power & no small amount of detail). Still, is the foliage a little too manicured and the deadwood overwrought? I’m sure there are some purists out there who might say something like that, and there’s some sense to these observations, especially if you feel that bonsai should look like trees in nature. But still… why sweat the small stuff when you’re looking at one of the more imposingly powerful bonsai you’ve … Continue reading Lime Sulfur: A Story with a Happy Ending

The Meta-Natural Bonsai Look

The natural look? Beyond the natural look? This wild and wonderful tree is by our friend Robert Steven (Robert is often featured on Bonsai Bark). I found the photo on facebook. A little help The lower trunk (on the tree above) looks like it just grew that way, somewhere on a rugged cliff overlooking the ocean. The top twisty section of trunk looks like maybe it had a little help from Robert’s hands and some bonsai wire. And there’s no doubt that Robert shaped the foliage. But then, only Robert knows the whole story. My guess is he’ll tell us. … Continue reading The Meta-Natural Bonsai Look

Jinning: A Tidy Two Tool Tecnique

The type is almost microscopic, so we’ll synopsize a bit (see below for a slightly magnified version): 2. Use a concave cutter to score around the base of the branch you are jinning. 3 and 4. Crush the bark with pliers. 5. Pull the bark off with your fingers. 6. Create a natural shape by using concave cutters to apply small cuts and to pull of the resulting wood threads (you can use pliers to pull the threads if you want). From a article by David Benavente in Bonsai Today issue 85. An elegant solution, but what about other tools? … Continue reading Jinning: A Tidy Two Tool Tecnique

Juniper in Progress by François Jeker

We just received this from François Jeker. François is the author Bonsai Aesthetics and is an accomplished bonsai artist and teacher. He is particularly known for his skills in creating, carving and aging of deadwood. Bonsai Today featured a series of his articles on the topic (issues 103, 104 and 105). The bad news is that two of these issue are out of print. The good news is that we have been posting excerpts here on Bonsai Bark and plan on posting more in the future. I particularly like his article on aging deadwood which was featured in July of … Continue reading Juniper in Progress by François Jeker