A Simple Bonsai Wiring Lesson

Flying home today from the SF part of my Portland trip (Artisans Cup) and time is compressed, so I’ll borrow a little something from Mary Miller’s Bonsai Banter: “I was searching for Collin Lewis’ website. While browsing, I discovered Colin on Craftsy.com giving a video lesson. The ‘Bonsai Wiring Essentials’ is listed as free. I watched the entire program.” “Colin is a talented author and speaker, as well as bonsai artist. His easy going, clear instructions will answer all of your questions about wiring your bonsai. Best wire and tools? Copper or aluminum and the difference? How long to leave … Continue reading A Simple Bonsai Wiring Lesson

The Winners & the Wonderful & Well-Organized Chaos & Delights of the Artisans Cup

The winner (captured by my cellphone camera amidst the push and pull of ten thousand museum visitors). It’s a Rocky mountain juniper that belongs to Randy Knight. Up early to catch a plane and still reeling from the wonderful and well organized chaos and delights of the Cup. The people, the venue, Portland, old friends. And of course the truly amazing bonsai. I’ll apologize up front for any mistakes in attribution and failures to link. I haven’t had time to begin to sort through the hundreds of photos of trees people and places, but we have start somewhere and that … Continue reading The Winners & the Wonderful & Well-Organized Chaos & Delights of the Artisans Cup

The Cup, Cork Bark Bonsai & Collecting from the Wild

Backcountry Bonsai doesn’t show any Ponderosa bonsai, so we borrowed this yamadori Ponderosa pine from Ryan Neil’s Mirai, American Bonsai. There are signs of what some people might call corking (see the close up at the bottom of the post), but I don’t think Back Country Bonsai would qualify it as a cork bark Ponderosa. Tonight is the opening of the Artisans Cup. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed that we’ve been resurrecting posts that have something to do with Oregon and more specifically (though sometimes indirectly,) the Cup itself. This works for me as generating new posts while … Continue reading The Cup, Cork Bark Bonsai & Collecting from the Wild

Great Trees & Vivid Closeups

It’s not that often that you’ll find a tall tree like this with great lower branching. When you do, and in the right hands, the result can be striking and quite unique. It’s a Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) that belongs to Ryan Neil (Bonsai Mirai). We don’t normally repost from just four months ago, but I’m on my way to the Artisans Cup (with a little stopover in San Francisco), so why not? Don’t worry, I won’t bug you about going if you haven’t made plans. It’s getting late and the case has already been made. Repeatedly, including yesterday’s post. … Continue reading Great Trees & Vivid Closeups

A Range of Bonsai Varieties & Styles, Along with a Flair for Experimentation…

This raft style bonsai belongs to Tony Tickle. Most of Tony’s trees are labeled by variety, but this one simply says ‘Raft’ (I spent some time searching Tony’s site for more on this remarkable tree, to no avail). I’m guessing it’s a Larch (Larix) or maybe not (see below). We could go further and guess European larch as the U.K. where Tony lives and works is considered part of Europe (by most people, at least) and Tony seems to favor yamadori that are collected in Europe (he calls his site Bonsai & Yamadori from Tony Tickle). Looks like I might … Continue reading A Range of Bonsai Varieties & Styles, Along with a Flair for Experimentation…

Paradise Found

A Japanese white pine after it was wired by John Milton. The before photo is below. The title Paradise Found is a reference to John Milton’s famous poem Paradise Lost (famous at least on college campuses, if nowhere else). Now we have another John Milton who writes that he’s “currently following (his) dreams and studying as an apprentice at Aichi-en in Nagoya, Japan under Junichiro Tanaka-San” (in addition to the John Milton Paradise connection, the Aichi-en apprenticeship connects nicely with our last post as do the Japanese white pine before and after photos). What I really wanted to show you … Continue reading Paradise Found

Before & After – What Would You Do?

Before you look at the after picture below, consider this: you are visiting Aichi-En Bonsai Nursery in Japan for two weeks and you’re tasked with wiring and styling this Japanese white pine. What would you do? The photos shown here are from Jeremiah Lee’s Yenling Bonsai Blog. In Jerimiah’s own words… “Over the past two weeks I did a visiting apprenticeship at Aichi-En Bonsai Nursery in Nagoya, Japan. Nothing but eat, sleep and Bonsai for two weeks.” Jerimiah goes on to say… “With this tree I’m going to show a useful technique I learned for creating a good anchor point … Continue reading Before & After – What Would You Do?

The King of Bonsai

Full cascade Japanese black pine (Pinus thumbergii). Japanese for Black pine is Kuromatsu (kuro is black and matsu is pine). Japanese black pines are sometimes referred to a the king of bonsai. This may be in part due to their natural strength; they tend to have powerful trunks and thick lush foliage. Rugged bark doesn’t hurt either. King or not, the best of the black pines are undeniably among the most powerful bonsai in the world. All the photos shown here are from the 89th Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition that took place February 2015 in Tokyo. We found them at Michael … Continue reading The King of Bonsai

Spinning Through the Seasons with a Magnificent Maple

Even though Sergio Cuan (the artist behind this magnificent tree), wrote that “out of the group, the two photos of the tree leafless are probably the most interesting and show off the tree at its best,” still, I couldn’t resist leading with this full-fall-splendor photo (it’s about grabbing your attention). The tree is a Sharps pygmy Japanese maple. You may have seen it at the 4th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (or in the Exhibition Album) where it was the winner of the Finest Deciduous Bonsai award. The still shots you see here are of Sergio Cuan’s now famous Sharps pygmy … Continue reading Spinning Through the Seasons with a Magnificent Maple

Caught in the Act

Caught in the act of flowering. This ubiquitous little Hawthorn belongs to Morten Albek, shohin bonsai artist, author and teacher. The display appeared during a visit to Denmark by Tomohiro Masumi. Still out of the office. This one originally appeared in 2011. It was titled ‘Small Is Beautiful.’ Tomohiro Masumi, Morten Albek & Shohin bonsai Rather than bore you with my take on things, I’ll just post a few photos I think you might appreciate. If you want more (photos and information), you can visit Morten’s facebook post on Tomohiro Masumi’s visit to Denmark, or you can go directly to … Continue reading Caught in the Act