If It Ain’t Fun, It Ain’t Bonsai

This Black Hill Spruce belongs to Andy Smith. As you may have guessed the tree was collected in the Black Hills of South Dakota. By Andy. He estimates that it’s 150-175 years old. The stone was also belongs to Andy. You can find this image and all but one of the other images in this post on Andy’s Golden Arrow Bonsai website.

Golden Arrow Bonsai is Andrew Smith (aka Andy), though he no doubt enjoys some help from friends and family. Andrew is a bonsai artist and professional woodsman who specializes in collecting trees from nature. If you would like to learn how to collect the right way, check out his DVD, How to Collect Wild Trees. He also has a DVD on styling collected trees that’s entitled Finding the Bonsai Within, Ponderosa Pine Wiring Techniques, Working with Difficult Trees. Andrew lives in Deadwood South Dakota. I borrowed this paragraph from an early (September 2009) Bark post.

Here’s another (August 2009) borrowed Bark paragraph. Deadwood in Deadwood. If you’re ever near Deadwood South Dakota, visit Andrew Smith at Golden Arrow Bonsai. Andrew is known for his yamadori bonsai (bonsai collected from the wild) among other things. I consider him to one of a small handful of genuine collectors; people that collect with deep knowledge and respect and, as a result, a very high success rate. If you can’t make it to Deadwood, you can at least enjoy Andrew’s excellent DVDs.

This is one of Andy’s all-time favorite pines. Estimated age 250 to 300 years old. Photo is from Andy’s website.

A small but old cascade style Ponderosa pine. This is a sweet little tree just as it is, though you could employ some needle reduction if you wanted to go to the trouble (our Pine book has some excellent how-to needle reduction).

This Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) is going to stay put right where it is. Photo by Andy Smith, from the home page on Andy’s Golden Arrow Bonsai.
Common juniper. Estimated age 125 years. Collected, wired and potted by Andrew Smith, Golden Arrow Bonsai.

Dazzling deadwood. I think I see a live vein on the left edge of the trunk. Otherwise, this spectacular old specimen is a study in deadwood (with a little rebar thrown into the mix). It’s a Rocky Mountain juniper. The artist and owner is Ryan Neil, International Bonsai Mirai. The tree was originally collected by Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai.

Literati Ponderosa pine. I chose this one from Andrew’s web photos because it retains the wild look that characterizes so many Andrew’s trees, enhanced by his bonsai skills (there’s a before photo too). This one is for sale (425.00), as are many of his collected trees.

Mountain lion photo by Andrew. I cropped the photo to enhance the size of the lion.

Couldn’t resist. We featured a tree and pot by Sara Rayner a few posts back, so I was looking for some pots by Sara as a follow up, when I stumbled upon this little gem at The Art of Bonsai Project. The caption says ‘Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) pot specially made for this bonsai by Sara Rayner bonsai and photograph by Andy Smith.’