Paying a Visit to an Old Friend 9/6/12

There’s something about a beautiful bonsai in flower. If you let your eyes linger for a few moments, you’ll notice how the seemingly perfectly placed flowers enhance the power of the tree rather than overwhelm it. It’s a bougainvillea by Robert Steven. All this photos in this post are from Robert’s facebook gallery.

Always a pleasure
It has been a while since we’ve featured the bonsai of Robert Steven. In addition to being one of the foremost bonsai artists and teachers on this fierce and lovely planet, Robert is also a friend. Not in the ordinary sense of buddies you hang out with, but in the sense of someone you’ve gotten to know and respect over a long period of doing business together (we sell his books and his Bonsai Aesthetics tools and wire, and he provides free bonsai critiques and other material that we feature on this post). Beyond mutual benefit, genuine trust and loyalty has developed. This doesn’t always happen in long term business relations, but it’s always a pleasure when it does.

Another Bougainvillea with just enough flowers. In this case it’s a full cascade with a somewhat unusual sweep that starts on one side of the pot and finishes on the other.

Ficus (?) root-on-rock style on a penjing tray. Aside from the power and beauty of this tree clinging to a rock with almost no soil in sight, there’s the added interest of the way its two trunks are connected by that strong trunk/root in the center.

Another planting on a penjing tray. This one offers a whole scene with trees, rocks, land, grass and water. Though it looks like it might be fairly easy to create this type of scene, an ample dose of expertise goes into making one that creates such a natural sense of scale, dynamic balance and tranquility (forgive me for the somewhat pedantic dynamic balance; what I mean to say is that though the scene is quite tranquil, it isn’t exactly static; there’s a subtle sense of movement that invites your eye to freely move from one side to the other and back again… oh well…).