Masterful Bonsai, Brilliant Pots & Glimpses of Monet & Van Gogh

One of three magnificent Junipers (Juniperus chinensis) that you can find on Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots website. Or, you can go straight to the source, Bonsai Sidiao master, Cheng Cheng Kung’s site. Yesterday, Ryan Bell offered a friendly heads up on a boneheaded mistake by yours truly. After wiping the egg off and correcting the mistake, I decided to visit Ryan’s Japanese Bonsai Pots to see what he’s been up to lately. As always, it was a click worth making. Especially for someone who enjoys brilliant ceramic art and equally brilliant bonsai. Continued below… Here’s something you might like … Continue reading Masterful Bonsai, Brilliant Pots & Glimpses of Monet & Van Gogh

Fukien Tea with Elephant & Other Wonders

That’s a lot of tree for a pot that size. But then that’s a commanding pot, at least in color and design. The pot and presumably the tree (Breynia officianalis) belong to Ruban Yu. This photo and the one just below are from The 11th Annual Shohin Pottery Competition, on Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots blog. Continuing from yesterday, here are a couple more trees from Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots blog. Both belong to Ruban Yu. The pots below also belong to Ruban and are from his website. Here’s what Ryan has to say about the two bonsai shown … Continue reading Fukien Tea with Elephant & Other Wonders

Drifting a Little Farther Afield

What a great photo. It helps to have such an excellent subject for sure (Japanese black pine). It’s from post titled ‘The Dark Horse’ on the Bjorvala Bonsai Studio blog. The full tree and pot are shown below. There’s really not much of theme going on with this post, other than a digital tour of some bonsai blogs/websites. So we’ll leave it at that… except to say that we’re going a little farther afield than we usually do. I have a soft spot for hand painted bonsai pots. This one is from the ‘for sale’ section of Ryan Bell’s … Continue reading Drifting a Little Farther Afield

Traveling Pot Meister

I don’t recognize this sculptural Shimpaku and it’s not labeled on the Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog (random photos section), from whence I borrowed it (it belongs to Mr. Chiu Chung Cheng, see comments below). I like the overall composition; the way the stand, pot and tree go so well together. One thing that seems a little unusual, is how large the live vein is relative to the rather narrow branch that it supports. I’ve been meaning to feature Ryan Bell’s Japanese Bonsai Pots Blog ever since I stumbled upon it a couple months ago. For a relative bonsai newcomer, I’m … Continue reading Traveling Pot Meister

Deceptively Good – This Time with Attribution

Shohin bunjin? This little Shimpaku looks a lot like a bunjin bonsai, even though it may not fully reflect all the qualities, particularly age, that we associate with larger bunjin trees (the comments on this post may help shed a little light). Also, I wonder about the puffy little foliage pads. Still, in shape at least, I’d say there’s something bunjin about it. No matter, it’s an eye catcher that most of us would be happy to see sitting on our bonsai bench. Like the little trees in our last post, it’s from Bonsai-Mikunien (The Bonsai and the Moss Ball). … Continue reading Deceptively Good – This Time with Attribution