Before and After on a Well Established Bonsai

A maintenance before and after. No variety is listed, but it looks like it might be a Shimpaku juniper. The artist is Jan Culek. You might notice the GREEN T Hydraulic Lift Turntable Sticking with Jan Culek, our newfound bonsai artist (see yesterday). This one is a fairly simple maintenance before and after. The shape and other main features have already been established, so it’s time to bring it back to its previous beauty (and beyond). Mostly it’s a matter of thinning the overgrown foliage, cleaning the deadwood and applying lime sulfur, and also cleaning and brushing the the live veins to bring out their natural beauty. … Continue reading Before and After on a Well Established Bonsai

Something for Bonsai Rock Planting Lovers & Fans

Great stone. Great planting. All but the lowest juniper appear to be growing in pockets of soil in the stone. This is referred to as a root-on-rock bonsai. It looks like the lowest one has its roots growing down into the pot (protected for now by moss). This would be root-over-rock style. The artist is Jan Culek Continuing our rock planting theme from yesterday… Most large complex stones for bonsai plantings are made by human hands, and the ones shown here are no exception. They’ll all by Jan Culek GREAT BONSAI TOOL SPECIAL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT 40% OFF LIST PRICES ALL BONSAI AESTHETICS TOOLS INCLUDING … Continue reading Something for Bonsai Rock Planting Lovers & Fans

Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

This very distinctive bonsai belongs to Mauro Stemberger. The rock was made by Erik Križovenský, a master of unique pots and other creative vessels for planting bonsai. No mention is made of the type tree, but it looks like some type of Juniper. I cropped Mauro’s original photo (below) to get a closer look and to eliminate some background noise It’s past due time to revisit Mauro Stemberger, an old favorite here on Bark. If you’d like to see more of what Mauro is up to you can visit him on facebook and on his Italian Bonsai Dream website. You can also visit … Continue reading Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

A Most Unusual & Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza

I don’t know how big this planting is, though I’m leaning toward pretty big. Impressive too with its sophisticated sense of depth (larger trees in front and smaller toward the back). Not to overlook the very large pot with its flowing lines and no doubt hefty price tag. This photo and the next three below are from Bill Valavanis’ blog Continuing with yesterday’s mixed media bonsai theme, this one is from Robert Steven’s 2014 1st International Bonsai Biennale. At the time we referred to it as the most unusual and provocative bonsai extravaganza ever TWO NEW TOOL SPECIALS Famous Roshi BONSAI Tools 30% … Continue reading A Most Unusual & Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza

Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Something new under the sun! Sumi artist Sonia Stella’s caption reads… “Bonsai by Sandro Segneri and modern ink by me” I’m always a little stoked when we discover a new bonsai artist (quoted from our July 14th post). Now we can double down on that with today’s discovery of Sonia Stella’s Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – Sakura Studio. Or maybe triple down, with the added excitement of discovering a perfect intersection of two arts performed at such a high level. MID SUMMER SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT 25% TO 75% OFF LIST PRICE ON HUNDREDS OF BONSAI ITEMS SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT, MONDAY AT 11:59PM EDT – … Continue reading Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Bonsai at the Intersection of Environmental Art, Durational Art, Performance, Architecture, and Design

There’s more than the tree to bonsai. This photo with the brilliantly conceived pot and stand – and the way they both emphasize and elevate (literally) the tree – perfectly illustrates this point. It’s from a special event flyer posted by Pacific Bonsai Museum titled LAB, Living Art of Bonsai. The date is August 4th. The rest of the details are here This event looks and sounds so compelling that if it weren’t for previous unbreakable commitments, I’d be making my reservations right now. But perhaps you can be lucky! Here’s part of the copy from the Pacific Bonsai Museum about the upcoming LAB… “In … Continue reading Bonsai at the Intersection of Environmental Art, Durational Art, Performance, Architecture, and Design

Bonsai Pioneer Mas Ishii & Michael Bonsai

Here’s Michael’s (Michael Bonsai) caption for this tree… “I was “craving” to style my 80 year old Masaru-Ishii grafted juniper. I’ve never been really happy how it was prior styled. – This is the first time I really like the outcome, because I styled it myself and was motived after a long stretch of engineering and work and not being able to do “hands on” bonsai.” I cropped Michael’s photo (see below) for a closer look I’ve long appreciated the quality of Michael Bonsai’s photos. And his trees. This one originated with Mr Masaru Ishii (now deceased), grafting master (especially … Continue reading Bonsai Pioneer Mas Ishii & Michael Bonsai

Heavenly Bonsai, an Old Larch, a Tree that Never Gave Up & a Terrific Subtext

American Larch (Larix laricina – aka Tamarack) by Larch Master Nick Lenz (from our archives). This brings us to the 6th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition (September, 8th and 9th in Rochester). We will bring some field grown larches of our own. Nothing like this masterpiece. Just some rough stock, mostly 15 to 25 year old that originally came from a friend’s land. We have been digging some every year and growing them on here at my place, for the last 14 years or so. We’ve been pruning for taper, so we’ve got some pretty good trunks. We’ll try to have some … Continue reading Heavenly Bonsai, an Old Larch, a Tree that Never Gave Up & a Terrific Subtext

Backyard Bonsai 14 – “A Little Bit Above Average”

Bird’s eye view of Dan Dolan’s backyard. It’s Monday Monday and I’ve been at work since 7:00am, mostly answering emails and putting out small fires. Given that time is of essence, we’ll get out our tools and dig back into our archival mine. This one, Dan Dolan’s backyard, originally appeared in September, 2015. It fits well with our recently resurrected backyard theme Dan Dolan sent along some of his thoughts on bonsai and bonsai display… “Unlike many enthusiasts who heed the remonstrance of American bonsai masters to acquire only the best material upon which to work…… I take only the least promising … Continue reading Backyard Bonsai 14 – “A Little Bit Above Average”

Revisiting the Great Bonsai Debate

A naturalistic Norway spruce (Picea abies) by Walter Pall (from Bonsai Today issue 106) A blast from the past. This post originally appeared here in July, 2009, our 6th month Barking (this means we’ve been doing this for almost ten years). I don’t know if the topic is still relevant to any of you, but there was a time when it created a bit of a buzz and I think many of us can learn something by reading what Walter Pall has to say about the topic (below). As always with reruns, I’ve made a few changes. In the expanding galaxy of … Continue reading Revisiting the Great Bonsai Debate