Kokufu Bonsai-Ten: Still the Best

Kokufu842010iiKokufu Prize, 2010: Informal upright style Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergi). Borrowed from Phoenix Bonsai.

Delusional state?
To be sure, people from around the world are growing and displaying some wonderful, eye-popping bonsai. Still, from where I sit, and in spite of rumors to the contrary, it’s hats off to the Japanese when it comes to world class bonsai. If you don’t believe me, check out any Kokufu exhibit. If you still don’t believe me, then there’s nothing I can do for you. You’ll simply have to suffer in your delusional state. Or maybe visit your opthamologist (disclaimer: there’s nothing personal intended, just amusing myself).

Phoenix Bonsai
Phoenix Bonsai has one of the very best bonsai sites around. Somebody has been putting a lot of energy into it for a long time, and it shows. Check it out.

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Judging Judges

Traveling again and haven’t gotten around to reviewing all the judge’s comments. Soon. Meanwhile, stay posted.

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Eccentric Bonsai: A Very Unusual Satsuki

Kennett satsuki

What a strange and compelling tree! The trunk is massive from left to right, but looks like it might be somewhat flat from front to back, though it’s hard to tell from this angle. The branching is undefined (partially caused by the way the foliage and flowers are growing in the crotches) and unbalanced in a way that might make you wonder if someone was drunk or if there was some sort of pruning accident (no insult intended; just felt like saying something provocative). Still, there is something dynamic and compelling about this tree, at least compelling enough to motivate me to post it. Is it because it looks like a living sculpture that is pointing to the right (aka windswept)? Maybe it just needs some more refining. Any thoughts?

Kennett Bonsai
I found this tree on Facebook Wall Photos by Kennett Bonsai. They have posted several interesting bonsai recently and are definitely worth a look.

More on Satsuki Azaleas
Check out Robert Callaham’s excellent book: Satsuki Azaleas for bonsai and azalea enthusiasts (Stone Lantern Publishing).

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Sales: Books, Netsuke, Kenzans

booksale

Don’t wait!
Our book sale ends on Monday the 29th. 30% off Netsuke end tomorrow (Thursday the 25th). 30% off Kenzan sale has no ending date yet, but don’t wait too long.

What’s with netsukes and kenzans on a bonsai blog and website?
Good question (if I say so myself). Though bonsai is our primary passion and business, we’ve long had an interest in Japanese horticultural arts (thus Ikebana books, kenzans and tools and Japanese gardening books and tools). And to some extent, Japanese arts in general (thus the netsukes). So now that I’ve answered my own question, anything else you’d like to know?

Almost forgot
You’ll get an additional 10% off any order over $100.

Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern
Deeply Discounted Bonsai & Japanese Garden Products at Stone Lantern

Bonsai Art Contest: Plenty of Winners

F

The winner. Patrick Giacobbe’s Bonsai Design. Graphite on Bristol board.

A closely bunched field (with one exception)
First place was no contest; Patrick won going away with 73 points. After that, things got much tighter. Second place (see below) received 34 points, and third was a two way tie with 27 points each.

How the judges voted
Altogether thirty one people decided to judge. Each judge assigned nine points. This means there were 279 total points assigned. If you do the math you’ll see that those who didn’t finish in the money received 118 points. Put another way, everyone was a winner; most entries received at least one first place vote and every entry received at least one second place vote.

Continue reading Bonsai Art Contest: Plenty of Winners

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Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved

NoelandersTrophyVII161Another great unidentified tree from the Noelanders Trophy VII No NameBonsai Gallery (see yesterday’s post) that is featured on bonsai4me. I love the way this tree’s wild essence has been left intact, just the way Mother Nature intended. This comes through loud and clear in the deadwood that speaks of great age and looks so perfectly natural; as though the artist never touched it.

Mysteries solved
Thanks to our friend Ferry Freriks (you might remember Ferry as the winner of our $100 Unique Bonsai Contest), many of the mysteries in yesterday’s No Name Bonsai Gallery have met the light of day. In Ferrry’s own words:
“Thanks for posting a fine selection of some of the best trees in Europe! Anyhow, I’d like to add some more info: the first tree (an Itoigawa juniper) is from the skilled hands of Carlos van der Vaart: probably the best Dutch bonsai artist around. You can find more info about this tree and his other (near  Kokufu-quality!) trees here:  http://www.carlosvandervaart.com/studio.asp. As you can see the tree started out as pretty mundane semi-raw material. But with the help of some skillful carving and styling and a fine quality pot by Peter Krebs (http://www.peter-krebs.de/) it ended up as an excellent chuhin size tree.

Continue reading Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved

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Judgement Day

Okay. You’ve had your chance. And we already have more than the twenty five judges that we asked for. So, as of midnight Sunday, March 21st, (Eastern Daylight Savings Time), the judging for our Bonsai Art Contest is closed.

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A Powerful No Name Bonsai Gallery

nolB4

Have you ever seen a trunk quite like this? A Kimura yew that we posted a while back has some gaps, but this one has more space than trunk. It’d be good to see the tree close up to better understand exactly what the artist (who he or she is, is a mystery to us) did and how the pieces come together somewhere around mid-tree. We found this and the rest of the photos in this post on Bonsai4me. It’s originally from Noelanders Trophy VII. All the photos are by Hans Vleugels of Belgium.

Missing artists
We’ve seen lots of online photos that show trees without the artist’s names. Some, like the ones in this post, can be found on reputable sites, that for some reason fail to mention the artists. Others might have their reasons to neglect mentioning the artists. The worse are pirates who steal what they want without compunction. Others could be people who would like you to believe the bonsai are theirs (deception by omission). Some might just do it without understanding that it is unethical, that somehow anything goes on the web. Whatever, the reason, it’s bad form not to mention the artist. Or, if you don’t know who the artist is, you could at least say that you don’t know and mention where the photos is from.

Continue reading A Powerful No Name Bonsai Gallery

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Judging: Time to Step Up

There’s still time for you
Nineteen people have judged our Bonsai Art Contest so far. Not bad, but not over yet. There’s still time for you to weigh in.

Sales!
And, while we are at it, just a friendly reminder that we still have sales on books, magazines and netsuke going on. I know we’ve had lots of sales the last year or so (our answer to a weak economy), but don’t assume they will continue at the same frequency, or at the same deep discounts.

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