FREE Advertising & A Few Small Complaints

This Juniper is from the ‘Before and After’ section on Suthin Sukosolvisit’s Bonsai Studio. Suthin is one of the headliners at the GSBF Convention XXXVI (below).

Would you like to see your bonsai event featured here? If so, here’s the deal; we need at least one good link, otherwise, we’re not going to bother. And not just a link that lists the date and place, but a link with the names of the featured bonsai artists and with some sort of graphics (club logos are passable, but what we really like are photos of bonsai that belong to the featured artists, in addition to event graphics).

In exchange for your efforts, you’ll get free advertising on a blog with a large, well targeted following (see the graphic at the bottom of the page). All you have to do is list your event in the comments below and provide the necessary link(s).

The exceptions are some grandfathered events listed below. We’ve (actually I’ve) already spent the time digging up the information, so we might as well show you (and complain just a tad while we’re at it).

The Kokufu Exhibition Japanese white pine was wired by Michael Hagedorn. Michael is one the headliners at the SABA Convention (below).

 

June 22-23: Tower Hill Botanical Garden Annual Bonsai Weekend. Todd and friends at Sanctuary Bonsai clued us in to this event. I’ve been to Tower Hill and it’s a great place. If you ‘re anywhere near central Mass, this should be a show worth some time this weekend.

 

Something a little different. From Sanctuary Bonsai’s gallery. See Tower Hill above.

 

I couldn’t find anything about the headliners for the Hartford. This is not to say they don’t exist or aren’t featured somewhere, just that it’s not obvious to me.

July 13-14: The Bonsai Society of Greater Hartford Annual Show. For those of us who are geographically challenged, Hartford is the capitol of Connecticut. If you’re still lost, Connecticut is south of Massachusetts which is just below the great state of Vermont. This means if you are anywhere in New England or New York for that matter, Hartford is just a short skip away.

 

July 20-21: The Columbus Bonsai Society’s 40th Annual Bonsai Show is coming up July 20-21. Forty straight years. That’s impressive. Someone is doing something right in Columbus. And speaking of being impressed, they’ve also been cranking out excellent newsletters for a long time. Now, having complimented the good people in Columbus, still, am I missing where the headliners (bonsai artists) are mentioned? I’m having the same issue with Hartford (above). Maybe there are real obvious links somewhere, or maybe no headliners.

 

Oct 31 – Nov 2: Golden State Bonsai Federation Convention XXXVI—Bonsai Artist Studio: OUTSIDE THE BOX. We won’t say much about this one because it’s still a ways off and because they say everything you need to know (except maybe to say that Dave DeGroot, Suthin Sukosolvisit and Peter Warren are the headliners).

 

South Africa’s Eastern Bonsai Societies map of the world.

Oct 24 – 27: SABA, South Africa Bonsai Association Convention 2013 is being hosted by Eastern Bonsai Societies (EBS) and features Michael Hagedorn, Walter Pall and Rob Kepinski.

Ficus by Rob Kepinski. Rob is one of the headliners at the South Africa Bonsai Association Convention (above).

 

Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
Jan 2013 20,855 55,854 235,909 1,232,090 81.76 GB
Feb 2013 16,422 47,519 177,075 948,734 64.46 GB
Mar 2013 18,878 56,169 207,099 1,225,813 93.10 GB
Apr 2013 16,978 48,118 149,484 1,054,344 85.49 GB
May 2013 20,278 55,484 161,053 1,314,180 103.51 GB
Jun 2013 8,604 20,304 57,238 500,416 42.14 GB
Jul 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Aug 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Sep 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Oct 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Nov 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Dec 2013 0 0 0 0 0
Total 102,015 283,448 987,858 6,275,577 470.46 GB

Bonsai Bark stats.

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Full Floral Assualt

Whoops! My mistake. This tree is from Bill Valavanis‘ excellent new book ‘Classical Bonsai Art’ (stay posted, it will be here next week). It belongs to Robert Blankfield, who originally styled it at a workshop with Bill. I found the tree on the web (unattributed, so I’ve deleted that link) and didn’t know its origin. I have Bill to thank for setting me straight.

It all started with an email from Terry Davis with a link a rather amazing Ashikaga Flower Park and the joy of spring video. To excite your optic nerves and maybe inspire you to take a look for yourself, I’ve lifted a few shots (just below). As to whether these photos are artificially brightened or color enhanced, I’m innocent but I can’t speak for the videographer.

 

Optic overload? This and the three photos immediately below are from a video titled Ashikaga Flower Park and the joy of spring.

 

I think it was Picasso who said that dentists are frustrated doctors and photographers are frustrated painters.

 

Given the purple sky, you might wonder about color enhancement. Still, the green leaves look natural.

 

This white flowers aren’t as dramatic, but the contrast with the other colors (above) is good. BTW: this one has a telltale sign that it’s been lifted from a video.

 

 

When its salacious spring feast is spent, this otherwise somewhat pedestrian bonsai will be quietly moved to a back bench. The photo is from the cover of Bonsai Today issue 52.

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Three Famous Bonsai Books Are Back

These three popular Haskill Creek bonsai books are back in print after being gone for about a year. One of the great things about these books is that each topic is completely unique. You simply won’t find the subjects covered in any other bonsai books.

To thank you for your patience, we are offering these 3 Haskill Creek (now a division of Stone Lantern) classics at a special price of only 48.85 for all 3. The list price for all three is 70.85. which mean you save 22.00 off of list (9.00 off our our individually discounted prices – see below).

Individually each of these excellent books are also discounted.

Botany for Bonsai: list price 22.95, your price 18.95

Ponderosa Pines as Bonsai: list price 22.95, your price 18.95

Stands and Benches: list price 24.95, your price 19.95

And, just in case you want to save even more with 8 of our books, here’s a new set for you.

You can now own this entire set of 8 Stone Lantern bonsai books for only 99.00 (list 215.60). Just in case you are wondering, Haskill Creek is now a division of Stone Lantern Publishing.

 

New cover tree for Botany for Bonsai. It’s a collected Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans) that belongs to Enrique Castaño, who happens to be the author of Botany for Bonsai and the winner of the 2010 John Y. Naka award (for this tree). BTW: it looks a lot like what is usually called Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus) in Florida and sometimes called Button Mangrove (just to thicken the plot).

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Bonsai & Some Great Stories Unearthed

This photo is originally from the from Kokufu-ten 47 (1973) and came to us via Owen Reich’s Bonsai Unearthed. We’ve been discussing root-on-rock bonsai lately, and by extension root-over-rock bonsai, and you must admit that this is a worthy and very unusual example of the latter (I’ll guess that it’s a Trident maple). Also, when have you ever seen a companion plant quite as large as this one?

It’s about time we featured Owen Reich (an apprentice and instructor in Japan whose name came up in our last post). After all, it’s rare to find someone who knows his (or her) way around a bonsai and can also write. Really. I’ve read and even edited miles of bonsai writing, and no offense to absolutely anyone, but if as many people who think they can write, could really write, then the world would be full of Faulkners* or Nabokovs or…. (your choice here). And, though it’s all too easy to imagine your next thought, you’ll have to admit that it’s not for lack of trying.

Back to Owen and his blog. My only complaint is that he doesn’t post more often, though I get that he’s a busy man with styling and taking care of bonsai, traveling, teaching and all the rest… so I guess we’ll take what we can get. Which happens to include great trees, exceptional kusamono and this… “As I type this I’m surrounded by bonsai containers, scrolls, stands, tools, and about 200 pounds of books. Time to jettison most of my clothing and other “non-essential” cargo and head back to America. My Cultural Studies VISA ends a few days after the Taikan-ten and I’ll be back in America to teach for most of 2013. Much like extra-terrestrials, I’ll be appearing in front of small groups of Southerners most of the time but sightings of me will occur all over America with international trips in the works. My apprenticeship is far from over.”

*Speaking of Faulkner, it might be worth mentioning that Owen is a Southerner, which could help explain his penchant for story telling.


Blood, Sweat and Tosho is one of Owen’s many well-worth-the-time-to-read posts about this Needle juniper that he styled for a client in Japan.

 

Battling some Needle Junipers and Bonsai Friends. Another Needle juniper that appears in yet another enjoyable and instructive post on Owen’s blog.

 

Sweet Tea and Yamadori Here I Come! An unidentified tree that appears on Owen’s blog. Though the title says Sweet Tea, still, based on the leaves, I’d swear it’s a Camellia. Will I be shown the fool once again?


Kusamono of Taikan-ten 2011. You don’t usually see Kusamono this lush.

 

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Study Bonsai in the Old Country

I know I’ve seen this powerful little White pine-over-rock somewhere, and wonder if it hasn’t appeared right here on Bonsai Bark (a quick search unearthed nothing, but that’s no guarantee). It’s from the Fujikawa International School of Bonsai website.

This post is about your chance to study at the Fujikawa International School of Bonsai, enjoy some great sushi (maybe even drink a little sake) and experience the wonders of life in Japan. In their own words (from Fujikawa’s website)… “The Fujikawa School is an extension of Fujikawa Kouka-en nursery and is located in Ikeda City, just north of Osaka, Japan. Our intensive programs are designed for the serious bonsai student to pursue his/her dream of studying the art of bonsai in Japan.”

It turns out that Bjorn Bjorholm, who we’ve featured a couple times here on Bark, is one of the teachers and also serves as a Japanese to English translator (another American, Owen Reich, who we have yet to feature, is also a teacher). You can read about all of the instructors here.

 

We showed this exquisite (I know exquisite is a strong word, but really, take a look for yourself) little pine a few months ago in a post about Bjorn Bjorholm and his Bjorvala Bonsai Studio. I wonder if we would be surprised by the actual size of this tree and the one above, both of which we’ve referred to as little.

 

This very unusual Shimpaku got sliced a bit (mea culpa, but if you look at the original photo below, you’ll understand). Aside from the very radical twist in the trunk, how often do you see a tree where the all the branching and the entire crown are off to the side hanging out in space like this?

 

There must be another solution to this problem. Still, great tree.

 

A bright slice of the Kouka-en nursery.



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The Beast of Bare-Boned Bonsai

Japanese beech forest on a curved slab. From Bonsai Today issue 24. Artist unknown.

Japanese beech (Fagus crenata), with their striking white bark, strong trunks (often with excellent nebari) and beautiful smallish leaves, are a favorite of many bonsai artists, especially in Japan. Unfortunately, they aren’t that easy to find her in North America and our native beech (Fagus grandifolia), though a sweet and prolific tree is too rangy and large-leafed to make for very good bonsai (the European beech, Fagus sylvatica, which you can find, is a much better bet). All the trees in this post are Japanese beech and all the photos are from back issues of Bonsai Today magazine.

Speaking of Bonsai Today, we keep threatening to end the 75% off back issue sale. But then we would have to price them a little differently (especially the older rare issues), which means going through each one on our website and making 3 changes. This is something we just don’t seem to get around to. So, just in case you are interested, all remaining Bonsai Today back issues are still 75% off at Stone Lantern.

BTW: Sorry about the title of this post. Couldn’t resist all those B’s. And, just in case you are old and haven’t been paying attention, Beast is used in the positive sense.

Copper colored fall leaves are another reason to like Japanese beech (other beeches too). A strong, well-tapered trunk doesn’t hurt either. By Sinichi Watanabe. From Bonsai Today issue 49.

 

Beech (and other deciduous trees) are appreciated for their bare-boned winter look, when you see the whole trunk and all the branches all the way out to the finest twigs. From Bonsai Today issue 10. Artist unknown.

 

A strange and wonderful tree with its lumpy base and willy-nilly branches (and very unusual background color) is the kind of tree that you might look at and think ‘what a mess’ and consign it to the ‘later’ pile, or even the ‘never’ pile. Fortunately, some sharp-eyed person saw something worth saving and even potting. It’s from Bonsai Today issue 21. Artist unknown.

 

Good ramification is essential if you want quality deciduous bonsai. Beeches have somewhat heavy-tipped branches, so you don’t see the amazingly detailed fine branching you see on some other deciduous trees. Still, this one is pretty impressive. From Bonsai Today issue 49.

 

And then there are the lovely leaves. A higher quality photo/scan would be better, but still, you get the idea. From Bonsai Today issue 58.


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Great Bonsai, Great Photos

We’ve featured this tree before, but now I can’t find it (read, just back from vacation, too much to do and don’t want to be bothered). It looks kinda Ilex like, but neither my guessing skills nor my memory are up to much. Anyway, it’s a great little tree (if you can take your eyes off the pot long enough to see it… which is not to say that I don’t like the pot, because I really like it and I also think it’s a daring choice for the tree). This photo and all the photos in this post are from Mario Komsta’s facebook photos.

I just spent a little time bouncing around facebook and stumbled once again upon Mario Komsta’s photos. Mario is a talented young bonsai artist from Poland (living in Spain now) who, in addition to his considerable bonsai skills, also happens to take great photos; mixing straight shots of bonsai with more artistic shots, something you don’t see that often. Here are just a few to get you started. You can visit Mario on facebook for more.

 

I have a soft spot for good companions. Especially ones that are distinctive enough to just stand on their own, though I guess you wouldn’t call them companions in that case (Willi Benz’ Bonsai, Kusamono and Suiseki is THE book if this is something you’d like to explore).

 

Bonsai Bark!

 

The tight coiling trunk makes for a pretty distinctive tree. It looks like a Japanese black pine. It also looks very familiar. So familiar that I’m wondering if we’ve already featured it. With over 700 posts so far, it’s a distinct possibility.

 

An old Shimpaku juniper with the obligatory deadwood. Not that this tree isn’t a very good and quite distinctive bonsai (it is both), just that Shimpaku and deadwood are everywhere. But then, they go so well together.

 

Mario features lots of shots like this, where he’ll show you the whole tree and then focus on a distinctive feature of the same tree. BTW, I took the liberty of cropping this photo just a bit (a couple others too).

 

There’s something about Japanese maples (Benichidori and Shishigashira in this case). Which reminds me, with the ratcheting up of temperatures lately, we’re beginning to see Japanese maples here in northern Vermont. In fact, my neighbors have a red one in their yard that’s been going strong for seven or eight years now. This was unthinkable twenty years ago.

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A Quick Study in Deadwood

It’s all about the deadwood (and the crown). Deadwood is sometimes overplayed, especially on Shimpaku. But even though the deadwood is dominant on this tree, the powerful and well constructed crown offers a good sense of balance. All three photos in this post are from Marco Invernizzi’s website.

I’m still on vacation, so we’ll make no pretense of in-depth analysis of deadwood this morning (not that we ever do much in-depth analysis of anything). Just three photos of Shimpaku from Marco Invernizzi’s website with a few quick comments and a little word from our sponsor.

Marco Invernizzi studied extensively with Salvatore Liporace for several years and then went to Japan and studied with Masahiko Kimura (almost 4 years worth). This ambitious desire to learn coupled with a fair dose of natural talent has resulted in some truly remarkable bonsai and a large following in the West (a good sense of showmanship and movie star handsomeness doesn’t hurt either – sorry, I don’t usually get into personalities and that kind of stuff… we’ll blame it on vacation).

 

This one is a little different. Here the deadwood not only adds character and age, it also enhances the live wood as it snakes its way up the trunk.

 

I like the aged bug-eaten look of the deadwood on this tree. For some reason, I immediately thought of the tree on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 2 when I first saw this one.

And now a word from our sponsor…

Marco’s (and Masakuni’s) amazing Ichiban, the multi-use bonsai tool. Now on special at Stone Lantern.

 

Isao Omachi using the part of the Ichiban blade that is designed for cutting wire.

Here’s part of what Isao Omachi has to say about his Ichiban: “Compared to a normal pair of bonsai scissors, these are light and comfortable in the hand; you barely have to raise your elbow. You can multitask with ease, cutting swiftly through branches and wire… In addition to Ichiban’s unique design and efficiency, any level of bonsai student can have fun using a pair…”

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Just Relaxing and Drinking Some Tea

I guess we can live with the lighter. Several of the trees in Lam Ngoc Vinh’s photos also have distracting tags hanging from them. Still, we’ll take what we can get and in this case, what we can get is pretty good. And, speaking of pretty good, check out the facial expression on this very relaxed tea-drinker.

I’m also relaxing and drinking some tea this week. In a cabin in Maine (and yes, a cabin with wifi). So, in order to get back to the job of relaxing, we’ll keep it simple and borrow from someone else (the quote below is lifted word for word from an old Art of Bonsai Project post. The same goes for the photos).

“Lam Ngoc Vinh is from Vietnam. Born in 1970, his first introduction to Bonsai came from seeing his first bonsai in a newspaper when he was just ten years old. This first view of a bonsai tree led to many years of research and experimentation with native Vietnam tropical species including fruit trees such as Toad, guava, plum, mango, lemon, peppers, and later with less used species such as rose and others.
He works with many forms including Mountain, Stone, and Landscapes, and especially Mame and Shohin bonsai. Lam is well known in his home country of Vietnam and also on international bonsai websites. His work and achievements are highly praised and he has earned many awards in Vietnam.”

I’m not sure what the people under the tree are up to but I imagine they are enjoying themselves. And who wouldn’t in such beautiful surroundings? Speaking of tags, you can barely see the tag in this one.

 

We featured some of Lam’s trees a couple years ago, including this one. Here’s what I wrote at the time: “A couple questions. Have you ever seen shari (trunk deadwood) quite like this? And, where’s the soil? Not to mention (but to mention) the excellent overall shape of the tree.”

 

A Vietnamese strongman surrounded by some very large bonsai (or very small bonsai depending out your perspective).

 

Though the wire is a little distracting, I like this planting a lot. The trees and especially the rock formation seem completely natural. This natural look seems like it would be easy to achieve, but it actually requires a great deal of skill.

 

Another strongman. I’m not sure what this guy is up to. Maybe he wired the trunks and now he’s bending them.

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A Mind Bending Transformation

You’ll never guess what happened to this tree (unless you’ve seen our Masters’ Series Juniper book or Bonsai Today issue 21). Here’s a hint: it was flipped upside down somewhere along the way from where it started (below) to where it ended (above). The artist is Masahiko Kimura, aka The Magician.

Bonsai Today back issues and our Masters’ Series books present literally hundreds of bonsai techniques. Some are quite simple and suitable for any beginner. Many others are fairly advanced, though doable if you pay close attention and take your time. And then there are the few techniques that no one should try without parental supervision.

This particular Shimpaku lives in that rarefied realm of mind bending (and trunk bending) bonsai transformations. If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say some of you will like this transformation, some of you won’t be quite so sure, and some of you will take issue with the radical, technique driven, sculptural type bonsai that this represents.

 

Here’s the old front before it was flipped. Clearly Mr Kimura doesn’t always see what what most of us see when he looks at a tree.

How Kimura got from the photo at the top to the photo immediately above, might remain a bit of mystery, unless you have our Juniper book or Bonsai Today issue 21. We ‘ll show you a handful of photos here just to whet your appetite (the original article has 52 photos).

 

Separating the living vein from the rest of the trunk.

 

The separated strip of live wood has been cleaned up with a tiny power grinder.

 

The separated living vein is supported by long strips of wire and then wrapped with rafia.

 

Ready to bend.

 

Bending. It has to come all the way down.

 

Getting close.

A side view after the bending is complete and the raffia has been removed.


Done (for now at least).

 

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