Bonsai Detectives – Win a $100 Gift Certificate

(A) I found this spectacular olive online with no attribution or identification of any sort. I know I’ve seen before, but don’t remember where. Maybe you can help me. We’ll call it tree A. The contest. If you want to skip directly to the contest, scroll down to the bottom of the post. European olives are not a traditional bonsai variety. If you were to surmise that this is because they don’t occur in Japan or China, I think you’d be correct. However, as is the case with many Western native trees, all this is changing (actually, it has been … Continue reading Bonsai Detectives – Win a $100 Gift Certificate

Four Beautiful Bonsai & An Exercise In Futility and Frustration

I think this tree deserves some attention. Especially the extraordinary powerful trunk that shows massive shari (trunk deadwood) with only a hint of a living vein (peeking out lower left and upper left). Then there’s the foliage which is somewhat groomed but still free-flowing; giving the tree an informal feel. It might also be worth mentioning that it’s slanting style. You don’t see nearly as many quality slant style bonsai as you do upright bonsai. The photo is from Salvador De Los Reyes facebook photos, as are the other three photos in this post. Here’s the caption that appears on … Continue reading Four Beautiful Bonsai & An Exercise In Futility and Frustration

Bonsai Muscle

European olives are often resplendent with character as well as muscle and this one is certainly no exception. I found it on flickr and then, one thing led to another and to the conclusion that this tree belongs to Luis Vallejo (though I couldn’t find evidence on his very attractive site). Fair warning I mentioned this last time, but just in case you missed it: I’m out of town and busy with things too numerous to mention, so we’ll dig into our archives once again. This digging should last about two weeks and then we’ll get back to fresh posts. … Continue reading Bonsai Muscle

Uh oh!

Avant-garde bonsai. This wonderfully fluid tree with its distinctive flying pot is from Bonsai Do. The caption says with Tony Tickle (I visited Tony’s blog and couldn’t find it, though I’m sure someone with a little more patience can pinpoint it). There’s also this quote by Thomas Browne (it’s in Spanish on Bonsai Do, but here’s the original English): Art is the perfection of nature. Nature hath made one world, and art another. Uh oh! A moments confusion. Fingers moving too fast, awareness disengaged, and suddenly it’s gone. I just deleted our January 29th post! It was titled A Famous … Continue reading Uh oh!

Small Is Still Beautiful

Kishu shimpaku juniper by John Brocklehurst. Mark Cooper took the photo at the 2012 Noelanders Trophy. I like the natural, fragile looking deadwood twigs and a whole lot more about this tree. Shohin again. We’ve been featuring shohin bonsai (small bonsai) a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with fact that we’re all aging and, as we age, smaller bonsai have larger appeal (easier to handle, take less space on our condo’s balconies and are a little less taxing on our social security budgets). Or maybe it’s just that we like them so much. All the photos in this … Continue reading Small Is Still Beautiful

Searching for the Unusual

At a glance you might think this is just a stump with some foliage tacked on, but then as you look closer you notice the taper at the base and the way the texture of the wood creates movement and a feeling of age. Then there’s that little cave that enhances the story of time and place and natural forces that came together to help create this Dogwood by Franco Berti. From a post titled Reportage Vi Trofeo Bonsai e Suiseki Città di Poppi by Bonsai Romano. Searching for the unusual I spend a lot of time looking for unusual … Continue reading Searching for the Unusual

Bonsai Island

I’ll take this to be an European olive, even though it looks a lot like a Florida buttonwood. No matter, it’s a very unusual and compelling tree; so compelling that it won Kuni Kobayashi’s Grand Prize in the 2008 Concurso Nacional de Alcobendas MMBA (see below for info on this year’s exhibition). Island bonsai school All the trees shown here are from Antoni Payeras’ Escuela de Bonsái (Bonsai School) gallery. Antonio, and his Escuela reside on Menorca (Minorca), one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. I like two small holes in the deadwood. Not that there aren’t other … Continue reading Bonsai Island

Two Bonsai Firsts (at least)

A formal upright collected European olive? I’ve seen a lot of magnificent collected European olives, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any as perfectly shaped and stupendously gnarled at the same time. The artist is Gabriel Romero Aguade. Noelanders Trophy 2012 The four trees shown here are all from the 13th Noelanders Trophy Exhibition, which was held in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, way back in January. I borrowed the images from Bonsai – Living Art, the English version of the Slovenski blog (I recommend a visit, it’s a great bonsai blog, one of the best). A couple firsts I don’t know … Continue reading Two Bonsai Firsts (at least)

Fishing for Bonsai Muscle

European olives are often resplendent with character as well as muscle and this one is certainly no exception (to say the least). I found it on flickr and then, one thing led to another (see Gone fishing below) and to the conclusion that this tree belongs to Luis Vallejo (though I couldn’t find evidence on his very attractive but oh-so-slow site). Bonsai muscle There’s something grand about bonsai with thick, powerful trunks. Assuming that I’m not the only one that feels this way, here are three exceptional bonsai (that also happen to be quite muscular) for your enjoyment. Gone fishing … Continue reading Fishing for Bonsai Muscle

Whoops! Mea Culpa

This one is an olive. And it is by Andres Bicocca. Who is from Argentina and isn’t from Uruguay. BTW: the way the foliage mass clings to the trunk, makes for a unusual looking bonsai. Though it has a wild, ‘work in process’ look, there’s something compelling about it with its strong nebari and well aged bark. Egg all over my face First, apologies to Argentinian (not Uruguayan) bonsai artist Andres Bicocca (see three posts ago). Second, apologies to Wild Bonsai; not only did I mis-attribute one of their trees but I mis-identified it as well (doubly embarrassing when you … Continue reading Whoops! Mea Culpa