Following Nacho

A fantastic, delightful and very unusual tree. I’ve seen about a million bonsai (photos actually), but never one quite like this. It belongs to Nacho Marin (he’s been here before). This photo and the one immediately below are from facebook. No name provided there, but fortunately, the third photo from his website comes with a name (I won’t spoil it for you).

I’ve been following Nacho Marin for a while now. Mostly on facebook, but occasionally I visit his website (it’s great, but  you need some patience). Anyway, I think Nacho’s bonsai are some of the most fascinating and unique trees around and this one is no exception.

 

Close up. A good shot of the deeply furrowed bark and the little cave dwellers peeking out of the sabamiki (hollow).

 

This photo from Nacho’s website begs the question: is this an earlier iteration of the same tree? I’ll let you decide, but the photo comes with an answer to another question: it’s a Callistemon Speciosus (Albany bottlebrush, Swamp bottlebrush, Grey bottlebrush… common names sometimes do this).

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Choosing the Right Pot

As long as we’re on the topic of choosing, I chose this one as the lead photo because it’s the only one with clean pot. A distinct advantage. All the photos in this post are from Boon Manakitivipart’s facebook postings. I took the liberty of cropping all the photos in this post and combining some separate photos into single images.

Which pot would you chose? The photos and the concept are courtesy of Boon Manakitivipart (aka Bonsai Boon) on facebook (here and here). Just in case you’re not in the loop, Boon is a highly respected American bonsai artist and teacher who lives in the SF Bay Area.

 

Without allowing yourself to be influenced by the clean, well oiled pot, which pot would you choose?

 

Which pot works best with this tree?


This famous Sierra juniper appeared on the cover of the very last issue of Bonsai Today. It has nothing to do with the challenge above, except that it’s by Boon and the pot was very well chosen.


Pots. While we’re on the topic, here’s a little something from our sponsor.

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World’s Most Joyful Bonsai Artist

Too cute for a serious bonsai blog? Maybe, but I’m impressed that he appears to be picking off unhealthy needles. Then there’s his strikingly high forehead and overall large cranium. Maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing. The photos in this post are all is lifted from Sandy Fathurachman’s facebook page (link disabled).

Thought I’d do a quick recycle for you. This post originally appeared exactly two years ago today. It was titled, World’s Youngest Bonsai Master. I must admit, even though it’s too cute by a factor of ten (see below), I still like it and figured some you would feel the same.

Too cute?
Much of the internet in general and facebook in particular, is devoted to cute, so it’s not surprising that we would eventually come across something like the photos shown here. The question is; do we have to give in to what appears to be a mass cuteness hysteria? Well, generally not (I challenge you to find anything too cute in our approximately 1,000 previous posts), but in this case, the cuteness is just too good to pass up. Besides, as mentioned above, our little master appears to know what he’s doing (not to get carried away by appearances).

Bonsai Master?
The other question has to do with our use of the term Bonsai Master (the original title was World’s Youngest Bonsai Master). When are we really justified in using that term? In this case it is obviously tongue in cheek, but I have seen too many cases where the term is used quite loosely. So loosely, that it may have lost its usefulness.

 

His laser-like concentration is undeniable, but I’m not so sure about his grip.


Not only is he the world’s youngest bonsai artist, but he just might be the world’s most joyful bonsai artist.

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The Trend Only Gets More Outrageous

Snakes. From Estação Bonsai on Facebook. I couldn’t find any mention of the artist and even though I don’t like to show trees without attribution,  just couldn’t pass this one up (there’s another from Estação, below).

The old rules of bonsai, if they ever really existed, were broken as soon as they were made and the trend only gets more outrageous (in whatever sense you prefer: out·ra·geous: shockingly bad or excessive, wildly exaggerated or improbable, very bold, unusual, and startling).

 

As you can see, this common Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) belongs to Harry Harrington (Harry on facebook and Harry’s famous website). It was developed from an old hedgerow tree collected in 2004. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s the way the pot (by Plilippe Torcatis by Victor Harris) and the base of tree play together that gives this one its cachet. BTW: there’s no sign of any live veins on the trunk. Must be hidden in back (We’ll not completely… see Andy Rutledge’s comment below)

 

This lonely persimmon is from the recent Taikan Bonsai Exhibition. I borrowed the photo from Bill Valavanis, who was there (Bill is everywhere) and who took the photo, along with a whole bunch of other photos. In any case, I’m scratching my head a bit about this one, though knowing how much Japanese people appreciate fruit and flowers on bonsai, I guess you could say it’s about being touched by fleeting beauty. Something like that.

 

This collected Norway spruce (Picea abies) belonged to Walter Pall when this photo was shot. I don’t think Walter considered it styled at this point, but there’s something about its flowing naturalness that I like. Walter traded it Mauro Stemberger who said, according to Walter, that “he wanted to ‘Italianize’ it and he did. Together with his friend he worked of three hours and the result (below) speaks for itself.” BTW: we featured Mauro’s bonsai just a few days ago.

 

The Spruce from just above, that belonged to Walter and now belongs to Mauro. Tamed a bit now.

 

Not a great photo, but a remarkably unusual tree. Like the one at the top of the post, it’s from Estação Bonsai and also unattributed.

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Just in Case You Don’t Know Marco…

This remarkable bonsai is labeled Taiwanese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) in Marco Invernizzi’s gallery. The stock for this bonsai was most likely field grown in Taiwan along with thousands of others. BTW: Taiwanese junipers are sometimes confused with the native Squamata juniper which grow wild in the mountains of Taiwan (there’s more on this in this Bark post from February).

It has been a few months since we visited Marco Invernizzi’s bonsai gallery. Just in case you don’t know Marco, he was one of Masahiko Kimura’s first apprentices and was also one of the first Western bonsai artists to become a household name. Knowing these two facts, you might surmise that by now, Marco is tinting grey strands in his sideburns. Not so though. He started with bonsai while still an infant and by the time he was six, he was famous throughout Europe and much of Japan. Now at sixteen he wistfully talks about retirement, but those of us who know him are certain that his passion and talent won’t let him rest.

 

Look familiar? You might remember this Japanese yew from a Bark post not too long ago (day before yesterday to be precise). I like this earlier fuller iteration by Marco, though without Mauro’s later refinement, the crown would soon become too heavy.

 

A stately three foot tall bunjin Kyshui shimpaku (Juniperus chinensis, var Kyshu).

 

Marco (and Masakuni’s) famous Ichiban multi-purpose bonsai tool (7 tools in one) is now on special at Stone Lantern for only 199.20 (249.00 less your 20% discount for our current sale).

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Sun is shining on my bonsai, but I stay in bed a little longer…

Japanese yew with one thin live vein and lots of great deadwood. From Mauro Stemberger’s Italian Dream website.

Mauro Stemberger is something of force in European and world bonsai. He usually starts with excellent stock and ends with even better bonsai. This is not not the first time we’ve featured Mauro’s bonsai and it won’t be the last.

For more, here’s Mauro’s website and here he is on facebook.

 

In the artist’s own words… “Sun is shining on my bonsai, but I stay in bad a little longer…”

 

The Snake. We’ve shown this famous Scot’s pine before, but it’s worth another look. Just in case you missed it, check out the notch in the pot that accommodates the base of the trunk.

 

Most of Mauro’s trees are conifers, but not this one. It’s a Kihohime Japanese maple that’s showing off a powerful trunk and some great ramification.

 

Local color.

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Wild Trees & Massive Trunks

Substantial, to say the least. You’d expect a heavy pot with such a massive trunk, still, to my eye this particular pot seems to dominate the tree just a bit. From José Gómez del Río’s facebook photos.

All of the photos in this post are from José Gómez del Río on facebook, and I assume all of the trees are his. Even though I like his wild and wonderful olive bonsai, I seem to be just a bit nit picky this morning. We’ll chalk it up to mild case of pre-Holiday stress.

BTW: the original images were a little dark and also the trees were a little small relative to size of images, so we put our crack team of two seven-year-old photoshop apprentices on the job.

 

A great trunk and a good pot choice too. No nit-picking necessary.

 

This rugged unrefined look is typical of olives. As long as we’re on the subject of pots, you might notice how the tree just barely fits into this one.

 

A marked contrast from the first three. I like the movement and the great details in the trunk, but does the heavy apex create a slightly unbalanced feel?


There’s lot to this unusual tree. Especially the solidity of the trunk and its swirling patterns. And then there’s the story that the strange, badly beaten branch on left is trying to tell.


A rugged forest somewhere in the foothills of the Pyrenees? Would the whole thing be easier on the eyes without the wavy doughy thing underneath the slab?

 

Another very unusual tree. The apex/crown seems a bit more refined on this one than on some of the others and I like the choice of pots.

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Flying High with Suthin

After. By Suthin Sukosolvisit.

Flying high. This one’s a first; a post from 35,000 feet. Ahh, the miracles… (which brings to mind a story by Louie C.K., but we’ll save that for another time).

Revisiting an old friend, if just for a few moments. Just found these Suthin before and after photos on facebook (the during and close-up photos are from his website). It’s not the first time we’ve featured Suthin on Bark and it won’t be the last. It’s a simple before and after (over a one year time span) of a Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa).

 

Before. You can’t really tell from this photo just how big this tree is.

 

During (from Suthin’s website). This shot gives you a pretty good idea of how massive the trunk is and how attractive Hinoki bark is too. It also shows a good way to bring a tall rangy tree down to size. My guess is that it originally came from a someone’s garden.


Close up.

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Great Pots Deserve Great Trees

Malpigia glabra (Barbados cherry) by Hsieh, Cheng-Hua.

Still traveling so we’ll borrow one more from our archives (April 2011). In keeping with the last post, we’ll stick with Taiwanese bonsai.

More Taiwanese Bonsai
Here are three more bonsai from the 2008 Taiwan Bonsai Creators Exhibition booklet which appears on Bonsai Shari Si-Diao, Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s website. It’s the pots, as well the trees, that really grabbed me.

 

Ficus microcarpa by Huang,Ching-Chi.

Variety unlisted. By Tung, Wen Chi.


Yixing Bonsai pots are available at Stone Lantern

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