Still Scratching (the Judges backs)

New England’s best. Teddi Scobi’s easy-going personal style is a big reason for New England Bonsai’s success for the past 27 years (photo is from New England Bonsai’s Kaikou School of Bonsai). If you don’t believe me, visit New England Bonsai and meet her for yourself. Be sure to tell her I said hello. Still scratching Judges Though we already featured our judges once, for some reason I feel compelled to do it again. I think it’s because I’m already getting excited about our next Bonsai from Scratch Contest (here’s an early post on the just completed 2011 contest) and … Continue reading Still Scratching (the Judges backs)

Weekly Wire Six: A Little Tipsy

More fall color. There’s something about the fiery brilliance of fall color. Both the colors and the shape of this Japanese maple are reminiscent of the large Sugar maples that grow around here in Vermont. The photo is from Reiner Vollmari’s facebook page. The Windy City. Next time you’re in Chicago you can visit the bonsai collection at the Chicago Botanic Garden. From what I can see from their website, it looks like a great display area with some quality trees. They claim to have “one of the best public collections of bonsai in the world” which may be … Continue reading Weekly Wire Six: A Little Tipsy

Your Fate is in Their Hands

Michael Hagedorn (our alphabetically first judge) worked on this Japanese white pine before his teacher, Shinji Suzuki entered it in the famous Kokufu show. You can visit Michael’s Crataegus Bonsai (one of my all time favorite bonsai blogs) for the whole story. Michael is the author of Post-Dated – The Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk. Bonsai from Scratch Contest: it’s time to meet the judges All the images have been sorted and sized and sent to the judges. Now it’s their turn, so I thought it might be a good idea to introduce them. In alphabetical order, they are: … Continue reading Your Fate is in Their Hands

Improving a Less-Than-Beautiful Design

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Chinese elm root-on-rock bonsai submitted by Ikhsan. The original (before) photo is below. Still impressed No matter how much I try, I don’t see nearly as much as Robert Steven sees when he does his critiques (it’s not even close). So, once again, I am left to sing the praises of Robert’s bonsai wisdom. If you’d like proof of that wisdom, just read on. Or, you can check out Robert’s books and search his name on this blog and read through dozens of his earlier posts. It’s time well spent. Robert’s critique How can two … Continue reading Improving a Less-Than-Beautiful Design

Whoops!

No sooner did I send out the notice about the winner of our $100 Mystery Bonsai Contest, than I got an email from Robert Steven saying he was mistaken when he identified the bonsai number 6 artist. In Robert’s own words: “it belong to Wayan Arthana from Bali….” I wonder if it’s one of those trees that has changed hands a lot, and thus the confusion (I have now seen it attributed to four different people). None of this changes our winner(s). I’m going to stick with Joe Rauscher (and Ferry Freriks in second place). So the only thing that … Continue reading Whoops!

We Have A Winner

This is the tree that gave people the most trouble. You can blame facebook if you’d like (unattributed and mis-attributed bonsai abound in that crazy free-for-all world). We have Robert Steven to thanks for setting us straight on this one. It’s a Pemphis acidula and the artist is Adjie Christian. And the winner of our $100 Mystery Bonsai Contest is…. Master Bonsai Detective, Joe Rauscher. For his diligence, Joe will receive a $100 gift certificate to Stone Lantern (scroll down to the bottom for the correct answers). A close second Ferry Freriks was hot on Joe’s heels, so we’ve decided … Continue reading We Have A Winner

From Ordinary To Sublime

Robert Steven’s digital simulation of a tree that was submitted by Josua. The eye of a master Sometimes Robert Steven’s simulations are strikingly radical and completely unexpected. In this case, what Robert has presented isn’t so radical. You might even say, his improvements are fairly obvious. Still, obvious or not, Robert’s expert eye and touch always seem to elevate the trees from ordinary to sublime. The tree on the left was submitted by Anthony. The one on the right was submitted by Josua. Both are ficus. Robert’s Critique I put these two bonsai together for my critique and as … Continue reading From Ordinary To Sublime

High Energy Bonsai

Premna serratifolia (Wahong) by Robert Steven. Two years in training. All the photos in this post are from Robert’s ‘My Studio’ on facebook. If you don’t do facebook, you can visit Robert’s blog (though it’s not very up-to-date), or you can just peruse Bonsai Bark for a large range of posts on Robert’s bonsai. Mr. High Energy Bonsai I’ve been watching the bonsai scene for close to thirty years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more prolific bonsai artist than Robert Steven. Prolific at a very high level at that. Or, for that matter, prolific at any level. … Continue reading High Energy Bonsai

Just Arrived: Bonsai Aesthetics Wire

From an article in Bonsai Today issue 96, titled Wiring 101. Bonsai Today back issues are currently 55% off at Stone Lantern. Bonsai Aesthetics Wire A couple years ago we introduced our now very popular Novice grade Chinese bonsai tools from Bonsai Aesthetics. Now, it’s time for Bonsai Aesthetics anodized aluminum bonsai wire. It comes in two weights (100 gram rolls and 1 kilo rolls). Prices are about half of what you pay for Japanese anodized aluminum wire. Bonsai Aesthetics and Robert Steven Bonsai Aesthetics is owned by Robert Steven, a world-class bonsai artist, author and teacher who often appears … Continue reading Just Arrived: Bonsai Aesthetics Wire

Local Bonsai Styles 2: Growing Conditions, Native Species & Culture

This venerable, naturally dwarfed Ponderosa belongs to American/British bonsai artist and teacher, Colin Lewis. Colin lives on the coast of Maine. Ponderosa pines grow in the inland mountains of the western U.S.; two distinctively different environments. Climate, native species and culture If you get a chance, take a look at the comments from the last post. They expand and provide insight into what started as a simple post with a single idea: the effects of culture (human rather than biological culture) on local bonsai styles. The first three comments deal mostly with nature (climate and other growing conditions, and native … Continue reading Local Bonsai Styles 2: Growing Conditions, Native Species & Culture