Weekly Wire: Back On His Feet, Nature’s Deadwood & Keeping Things Up to Date

Remember Isao Omachi? Isao’s house and bonsai nursery were swept away in the tsunami. That’s the tough news. The good news is that hundreds, maybe thousands of people in our international bonsai community donated to help Isao and his family get back on thier feet. As a result of this effort (and Isao’s and his family’s determination) Isao is back doing what he loves. This is our good fortune; Isao is one of the featured bonsai artists at the Mid Atlantic Bonsai Societies 2012 Spring Festival.  This sweet colorful bonsai is from Isao facebook page. It looks like a Japanese winterberry.

 

Planning ahead. Like to take photos of bonsai? This is your chance.

 

Better hurry if you’re going to make this 2007 Ginkgo show. This photo may be ancient history by now, but I couldn’t resist. It’s not just the blazingly beautiful blooms and the thick thick trunk, though those are surely enough to warrant a look. But how about that pot? Have you ever seen one quite like it?

 

 

Sea of pines. From Jonas Dupuich’s six week apprentice experience at Aichi-en nursery (that’s where Peter Tea is serving his much longer sentence apprenticeship).

 

Nature’s deadwoood. I don’t think anyone could carve and age deadwood quite like this (not even Fracois Jeker). The photo is from the California Bonsai Society Exhibit at The Huntington Botanical Gardens. It was posted on the Internet Bonsai Club by alonsou. The photo is identified as QAkh61. Is the QA Quercus agrifolia (California live oak)?

 

The whole tree (from above) with companion. The leaves are too fuzzy to tell what it is (for me at least).

 

Today is the last day. Another tree from the CBS annual exhibition at the Huntington. This one belongs to David Nguy. The exhibit is going on right now (today, Sunday, is the last day).

 

While we’re on the West Coast. It’s always great to see bonsai clubs with up-to-date websites (I’d say less than half are, with some a year or two behind). Here’s your link.

Another one that’s up to date. Listed events include the Michigan All-State Bonsai Show (May 12 & 13), the Chicago Botanical Garden Spring Show (May 19 & 20) and Milwaukee’s own 42nd Annual Bonsai Show (Sept 15, 16 & 17). .

 

 

Barber pole bonsai. I found this unusual tree here. I’ll let you be the judge.

 

Mark the date. From the Columbus Bonsai Societies Newsletter. If you can’t make this workshop, you can learn a lot from Andy’s DVDs: Finding the Bonsai Within and How to Collect Wild Trees.

 

 

 

 

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Three Rare & Wonderful Yamadori Bonsai

Even the most jaded collector has to be amazed when they stumble upon a tree with this much character. It’s from Walter Pall’s conifer gallery. The tree looks a lot like a Ezo spruce, but then, if it was collected in Europe, it couldn’t be.

Walter Pall’s conifer gallery
The three bonsai shown here have been borrowed courtesy of Walter Pall. They represent a small sampling of Walter’s wonderful conifer collection.

Naturalistic bonsai
Walter Pall has long been a strong proponent of what he calls ‘naturalistic bonsai.’ To my eye, all three trees in this post speak with a strong voice to that naturalistic sensibility. If you’d like to explore Walter’s thoughts on this subject, all you have to do is go back a bit into our archives.

Just for the fun of it...
… I’m making semi-educated guesses at the varieties of the trees shown here. Now to be proven wrong once again (see comments).

A magical bonsai. I like the scaly bark at the tree’s base, a sure sign of age. And then there’s the deadwood root (how often do you see that?), the undeniable power of the shari/jin and just the overall natural feeling of the tree. I’m going to guess that it’s a small needled Norway spruce.

I like the powerful ancient looking base on this somewhat precarious looking tree. Even though the foliage is a little fuzzy and too far away to really tell, I’ll take a wild guess and say it’s a type of Scot’s pine.

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Taxus Time & Missing Comments

After. Mario Komsta with Pete Carino and Bonsais Del Sur. Here’s Mario’s website for those of you who aren’t facebook friends.

Mario Again?
We (that’s me) tend to go on rolls around here. A couple years ago it seemed like every other post was about Michael Hagedorn’s bonsai. Then it was Bonsai Tonight. And of course there’s always Robert Steven (I reckon he appears in more of our posts than anyone). Not that these folks are the only ones that reoccur; when you post exclusively about bonsai three to four times a week for over three years you, recycling is an absolute necessity.

Taxus time
There are at least four good reasons why we’ve returned to Mario Komsta once again. First, his bonsai are so damn good. Second, he keeps posting them on facebook and grabbing my attention. Third, this bonsai has a certain quality that you don’t see everyday (hint: that wild and wooly deadwood in the center of the trunk has a lot to do with it). And forth, it’s a Taxus and tax time is coming (sorry for the bad pun and sorry about tax time too – unless you’re getting refund, of course).

Missing comments
Over the last 24 hours or so, we’ve had some technical problems with this blog. It’s fixed now, but it looks like we lost some of your comments. If you placed a comment and you don’t see it, our apologies.

 

Before. Once again (see last post) it helps to start with good stock.


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Bringing the Magic Up To Date

After. From a demo by Masahiko Kimura at the 11 ASPAC. (Asia Pacific Bonsai & Suiseki Convention) in Takamatsu Japan. It helps to start with great stock. It also helps to be Masahiko Kimura. Photo by Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight).

Still magic after all these years
Just in case might think that the not-so-old Master has lost his touch. It does help to start with great stock, but taking that great stock to the next level requires vision and a deft touch. Especially when the next level is accomplish in a single demonstration.

Japanese demos and Western demos
The photos in this post are borrowed from Jonas Dupuich of Bonsai Tonight (with some cropping on my part). Here’s what Jonas has to say about this demonstration: “I’d been curious how demonstrations in Japan differ from the demos I’ve attended closer to home. It turns out they aren’t that different. Bonsai professionals took breaks from their work to talk about the trees while assistants kept busy. Kimura’s demo involved some minor carving and a few large bends that resulted in a pleasing silhouette.”

Cropping
I sometimes feel just a little guilty when I crop Jonas’ photos. His photos are so good, so why bother? The simple answer is size. Our format is 680 pixels wide. His enlarged format is 1024 pixels, so he can afford more space around the trees and still show good detail. In our case, I usually opt for a closer view and more detail.

Before. As already mentioned; it helps to start with great stock.


Kimura wielding the bonsai weapon he made famous. This close-up is cropped from the photo below. Kimura’s assistant is Shigeo Isob, a bonsai artist in his own right.


A panoramic view with a little behind-the-scenes quality. And then there’s the large screen in back.

 

The Magician, the Bonsai Art of Kimura 2. On special at Stone Lantern.


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A Mystical Dragon

Robert Steven’s simulation of a planting that was submitted by Paolo Netto (see below).

More varied and interesting, but still…
Last month Paulo Netto submitted a group planting for critique by Robert Steven. Now, he’s submitted another more varied and interesting group planting for Robert to critique. Still, no matter how varied and interesting, there’s room for improvement, and ‘room for improvement’ is practically Robert’s middle name.

 

Paulo Netto’s planting.

Robert Steven’s critique

After the recent critique on Paulo Netto’s grouping, especially on the placement of the gate, he sent me a new grouping with different placement, which showed great improvement in perspective as well as overall composition. The open space in front also shows a much better foreground setting.

However, there are still some points that can be improved.

One of the very important principles of grouping bonsai is to make the panorama look like a part of natural landscape; not a prototype of a backyard garden. So, in this design, I would prefer to take out the wooden fence.

Creating a path is always a good idea in a group planting, but there is a trick to make the path more interesting and natural, and to add artistic value to the creation. In Chinese, this concept is very important and expressed as “Shen Long Jian Shou Bu Jian Wei” (A mystical dragon will only show its head and not the tail). This concept applies to the forming a path or river in landscape bonsai. Never make a straight path or river, but always make it zigzag, curving to the rear with its end point hidden. This will enhance the perspective and create a sense of mystery and an illusion of depth.

Looking at the simulation you can see that I have changed the placement of the gate by partly hiding it behind the trees. This improves the perspective and depth and suggests more mystery.

In addition to all this, all of the trees should be refined to create better ramification.

General comments
There is more than one way to design any bonsai and my critiques and recommended solutions might not always fit your taste and personal preferences, but I always try to give my opinion based on artistic and horticultural principles.

To understand my concepts better, please read my books Vision of My Soul and Mission of Transformation which are available at Stone Lantern.

My bonsai blog address : http://robert-steven.ofbonsai.org

 

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That Strange First Branch

A very unusual tree. My first thought was to remove that strange first branch way down low (if you hold your hand over it, you see a remarkable bonsai with it’s powerful twisted trunk, beautiful living veins, luscious foliage and so forth). But is it that strange first branch that really distinguishes this tree?

A facebook problem
All the trees in this post appear in a facebook photo album by Hock Lye Yap (Malaysia). It’s not clear to me that the tree’s are Hock’s. He does have a bonsai in Budi Sulistyo’s Tropical Bonsai Gallery, so we can assume he is a bonsai artist (it’s still an assumption, he could be a collector). Still, because attribution isn’t facebook’s strong point, I’m left with a question mark.

 

Great tree, great pot. This tree reminds me of some of the Taiwanese bonsai we’ve featured. It would be nice to know what the caption says.

 

Also from Hock’s photo album.

 

This tree looks familiar. Has it already appeared in this blog? That’s not a rhetorical question, I really don’t know (and don’t want to take the time right now to try to track it down).

 

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White Bear Bonsai Sale

Japanese black pine from White Bear Bonsai Garden’s sale. It’s caption reads “…personally selected by Susumu Nakamura, about 50 years old.”

A first for Bonsai Bark
If memory serves, this is first time that we’ve used this blog to promote a bonsai sale.To set the record straight, there’s nothing in it for us. I just stumbled upon the White Bear Bonsai Garden website the other day, saw they were having a moving sale of some quality bonsai and decided you might like to see some of what they have to offer.

 

Grafted Kishu shimpaku by Mas Ishii (Chikugo-En Bonsai Nursery).


This Shimpaku isn’t listed on the sale page (it’s from White Bear’s home page) but it really jumped out at me. Apologies for the fuzz, the original image was quite small.

 

Trident maple originally imported from Japan.

 

A White Bear display area at their current location in St. Paul, Minn. They are moving to Charlotte NC.

 

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Cliff Dwellers & NEW Bonsai Tools

Nature does it just right. This breathtaking photo is by Mario Komsta. No need to try to collect this beauty, it’s perfect right where it is.

These attractive Bonsai Aesthetics tools are every bit as good as their Japanese counterparts and they are more affordable. For example, your price on this set of 3 is only 14.95. Each one is also offered individually. Bonsai Aesthetics is owned by Robert Steven. Robert, one of world’s foremost bonsai artists, personally stands behind every one of his tools.

NEW tools at Stone Lantern
We’ve been bringing new bonsai and garden tools from Japan and China lately (with more in the works). As always, we’ll keep working to keep our prices low, our service prompt and of course, our quality high.

NEW. Masters’ Grade High Carbon Steel Bonsai Shears by Tsuyomitsu. Though our Koyo bonsai shears are quite good, we’ve decided to go up another notch with these sweet cutting gems.

 

This fine tooth new folding saw by Bonsai Aesthetic is perfect for large branches and tough roots. Though it’s hard to believer that such quality could be so affordable, our deeply discounted price is only 9.95.

Visit Stone Lantern for a vast selection of quality bonsai tools and bonsai supplies at the lowest prices anywhere.

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Weekly Wire: Bonsai Train, Deadwood in Deadwood, Russian Bonsai & More

Vive bonsai! Ever wonder why European bonsai events are so well attended? Thanks to Rosade Bonsai for this great photo.

 

Deadwood in Deadwood. If you’re ever near Deadwood South Dakota, visit Andy Smith at Golden Arrow Bonsai. Andy is known for his yamadori bonsai (bonsai collected from the wild) among other things. I consider Andy 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 Andy’s excellent DVDs.

 

Tony Tickle. This extraordinary Hawthorn is the subject of a repotting and repositioning video by Tony Tickle.

 

Potomac Bonsai Association. There’s something about Yews. Maybe it’s how tough they are, or perhaps it’s the luscious reddish wood. Or how they are so common in some places that you can often find older unwanted landscaping specimens for a great price (they don’t mind the most radical pruning, though the fiercely hard wood puts up a good fight). Personally, though all the rest is true, it’s the spectacular brilliant new yellow-green growth that pops up every spring that really gets me. But I digress; I’m supposed to be telling you about the Potomac Bonsai Association Spring Bonsai Festival at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington DC. May 4, 5 and 6.

 

 

Brooklyn Botanic Garden. A piece of the BBG bonsai collection. It’s a trip worth taking. Especially if you are one of the millions who lives within an hour or two of Brooklyn. BTW: BBG publishes one of the few books available on Growing Bonsai Indoors.

 

Doing it right. Want a little refresher on the ins and outs of wiring your bonsai into a pot? These two photo are part of an excellent post titled How to wire a bonsai pot, over at Bonsai Tonight. Speaking of wire…

 

Kabudachi Goyomatsu (Clump style Japanese white pine). I like the natural, uncontrived feel of this old pine clump bonsai. It’s from Michael Bonsai on facebook.

 

Modesto means modest in Spanish. The Modesto Bonsai Club 2012 Spring Show is coming up May 12-13. (BTW: Modesto is my long abandoned home town and I’m pretty sure the photo above wasn’t taken there).

Screw it! If you look at the very center of the photo on the left, you’ll see a Phillips-head screw (the Japanese call this a ‘plus’ screw) inserted into the trunk of an old Japanese black pine. Once you see that, the photo on the right is self explanatory. Both photos are from a Peter Tea post titled ‘Pushing the Limit.’

 

 

Russian bonsai. This Hornbeam forest is from the 2011 Suzdal Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibiton in Russia.

 

 

Japan bonsai tours. The Magician Masahiko Kimura (the serious looking man in the galoshes) and friends. From Japan Journeys 2013.

 

Bonsai art? It’s not the same as the art of bonsai, but has its place. It turned up here, on facebook.

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Capital Bonsai – Undressed Elegance

Chinese Elms, Ulmus parvifolia. In training since 1901. This remarkable bonsai was donated to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum by Yee-sun Wu. This and the other photos in this post are from Capital Bonsai, the NB&P Museum’s excellent new blog.

Sheer elegance
Somehow I missed the December 21st post at Capital Bonsai. It titled ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year.’ Though the song doesn’t do that much for me, the sheer elegance of the leafless trees in the post most certainly do. And though winter is over, or nearly over, for most of us, it was -8F yesterday morning here in northern Vermont, and all of our deciduous trees are still at their leaf-bare finest.

Aarin Packard and John Naka speak for themselves
Here’s a quote from Aarin Packard, Capital Bonsai‘s prime mover, about deciduous bonsai in the winter:
“I have head on multiple occasions that winter is the favorite time of year for the more discerning bonsai enthusiasts. John Naka described a bonsai in leaf as “a beautiful woman with her cloths on”… Only when a tree is leafless can you fully appreciate the level of  training that a deciduous bonsai has had. That could be why the most prestigious bonsai exhibition in the world, the Kokofu ten, is held during the winter.”

Shadows and light
A while back we featured a post on light and shadows. This post could be considered a second installment on the theme.

Cedar Elm, Ulmus crassifolia, Donated to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum by Arch Hawkins (co-founder of the Austin Bonsai Society). In training since 1981. NOTE: THANKS TO ROGER CASE (SEE COMMENTS) AND THE COLUMBUS BONSAI SOCIETY, WE HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THIS TREE BELONGED TO KEITH SCOTT AND WAS DONATED TO THE NATIONAL ARBORETUM BY KEITH.

Pomegranate, Punica granatum, Donated by Alice Naka, In training since 1963.

Hornbeam, Carpinus tschonoskii, Donated by Minoru Koshimura, In training since 1935.

 

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