Trunk Art

This rich and powerful, extraordinarily detailed old trunk sits at the base of a Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) bonsai (immediately below). It (and the others in this post) is from the recent Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s 27th annual show. The photos are all borrowed from Bonsai Tonight. The complete tree. Superior bonsai photography My hat is off and my balding head is nodding in appreciation of Jonas Dupuich’s consistently superior photographs at Bonsai Tonight. If you can’t see a top quality bonsai in person, the next best thing is a top quality photo.

Drawing Your Bonsai

A page from Bonsai Today issue 34 (all in stock Bonsai Today issues are currently 25% to 35% off). The artist (bonsai and sketch) is Yukio Karino (mistranslated last name?). You can do it! We’ve featured bonsai drawings way back in the early years of Bonsai Bark (2009). We still think it’s a good idea and suggest you try your hand at it. Contrary to the pervasive poverty mentality many of us have about these things, you can do it if you just take your time. The drawings (you can call them sketches if that helps) don’t have to be … Continue reading Drawing Your Bonsai

Colin Lewis Interview: “They’re All Important”

Faces of a transplanted bonsai artist. From Colin’s’ website. From bad weather to more bad weather Colin Lewis is a Englishman who somehow has ended up in the woods of Maine, where he raises bonsai, teaches, unpacks from his bonsai road show and drinks copious amounts of coffee in his pajamas. Most people who know Colin say that if you can get past his heavy foreign accent (joke!), you can learn a lot from him. Especially when it comes to the art of bonsai. An uncommon mix Among other things, Colin has a somewhat uncommon mix of talents. He can … Continue reading Colin Lewis Interview: “They’re All Important”

Tree + Pot = Bonsai

This sinuous shimpaku by Boon Manakitivipart (Bonsai Boon) is an excellent example of how to harmonize a tree with a pot. Not only does the rusty orange/tan (what is that color called?) pot color highlight the cinnamon colored bark, but the soft curves of pot enhance the trunk’s soft curves as well as the overall soft roundness of the foliage. As an added touch, the high shine on the pot helps bring out the bark’s almost glowing quality. Altogether a very sweet effect. What do you think? I’m not an expert and my opinion is just my opinion (opinions are … Continue reading Tree + Pot = Bonsai

Roy Nagatoshi Grafts Shimpaku Branches and Foliage onto a California Juniper

Shimpaku foliage grafted onto a California juniper by Roy Nagatoshi. All of the photos in this post are by Dale Berman. They originally appeared in Bonsai Today issue 108 in an article by Marcus Juniel. Shimpaku foliage on California junipers California juniper foliage is heavy and somewhat coarse (I think it looks fine on native stock, but Shimpaku foliage is beautiful and looks even better) and many bonsai artist opt to graft on Shimpaku foliage. Approach graft. The Shimpaku (scion) still has it roots in soil when it is joined with the stock. Once the graft has taken, it is … Continue reading Roy Nagatoshi Grafts Shimpaku Branches and Foliage onto a California Juniper

Eccentric Bonsai: Shinji Suzuki’s Cascade Juniper

The styling progression on this cascade Shimpaku juniper by Shinji Suzuki is remarkable (you can see the whole step by step progression in our Juniper book). So is the end result. Remarkable and very unusual. Shinji Suzuki styled it when he was 24 years old. I wonder if he would do it differently now. It’s not just the wild mixed interlocking swirls of live and dead wood… … nor is it just the very long piece of deadwood that runs through the center like a dagger, all the way from near the top to the very bottom… nor the delicate … Continue reading Eccentric Bonsai: Shinji Suzuki’s Cascade Juniper