Apr 29 2014

Munster Bonsai Meeting

Ok, so it’s Munster not Monster, but these things start small and build. This group are keen to learn and we spent a very wet and windy Friday night in Blackrock Hurling Club waiting for the roof to blow off!! We also covered potting medium and what we are looking for in a mix, carving bonsai, tree critique all at the same time as a Juniper was being styled.

Browsing the pots

This one doesn’t belong here, the coffee cup not Piotr

Preping the demo

Browsing the trees

demo tree

what the …!!

Cheers 🙂

Testing mix drainage and propetries

What do you think?

Take over Mark 🙂

Peter’s wee Larch

Apr 28 2014

Ulster Vs Leinster Vs Munster

I’ll share my photos from my weekend trip over the next few days. A great weekend with like-minded Bonsai Enthusiasts is hard to beat. It’s a bit of a trip and I’m absolutely shattered. Phil would say that I have no reason to be tired as he did all the driving, but then he goes to bed early 😉

Anyone who follows this blog will know that I’ve been doing my best to give bonsai a little push in Ireland who up until last year had no clubs! So our club in Northern Ireland (Ulster)has offered assistance to those in the South who are keen to get up and running. This trip was for the Munster Club who meet in Cork on the South coast of Ireland but, on the way Phil and I stopped for a coffee with Owen in Balbriggan who is the driving force behind getting a club up and running in Leinster which will cover Dublin the biggest City on this Island. Small steps but we had a good chat and came up with a few ideas for events for the rest of this year. First meeting is 27th June in Balbriggan.

So everyone can put a face to the name, here’s Owen and I at his place also his bonsai balcony 🙂

Apr 25 2014

Off to Munster Again

Today sees Phil and I head back to Cork for a workshop weekend with the Munster Bonsai Club. Looking forward to seeing the chaps again.

We are even stopping off on the way down to see Owen who’s starting up the Leinster Bonsai Club.

Apr 5 2014

Guess Who’s going to Burrs In November?

🙂

Mar 27 2014

Image

2nd Magical Bonsai Accent Exhibition

Mar 12 2014

BSA Exhibition 2014 – Valentin Brose

I was lucky enough to be staying at Willowbog over the weekend, so while others were back and forward from hotels etc I had the pleasure of spending time with the Jean and Peter Snart, Peter Warren, and John Armitage, all of whom I had met before. The new addition this time was Valentin Brose, the German Bonsai Artist, and former student of Kunio Kobayashi.

I was about to compare Peter Warren and Valentin, but that wouldn’t be fair on Valentin 🙂 We all know that Mr Warren is a one off! What I will say is that Shunka-en must instill a humbleness in it’s students, a great quality for a bonsai artist. His down to earth, one of the guys approach to the weekend was well received by everyone I spoke too. He is a talented artist and despite there being about 20 different regional accents at the exhibition, he coped very well. He still didn’t understand Phil though 😛

He demonstrated both days and led a display critique on the Saturday afternoon. We will not mention his ‘master plan’ for shohin domination of Europe that was hatched after a few beers on Saturday night 😀

Here are a few photo of his weekend. Valentin, it was a pleasure to meet you.

Ready to open

Saturday demo Sabina Juniper

Result

Display critique

and relax

At the end od a long night

Valentin and his henchman 🙂

Sunday demo tree

making a start

working the deadwood

there’s that henchman again 😉

Finishing touches

Where he wants the apex in the future

but this way for now.

Sadly John was away by this stage

making fun of the host 🙂

And just for you Valentin, this was what we discussed over breakfast on Sunday morning 🙂

Mar 11 2014

BSA Exhibition 2014 Part 3 – Accents

I think I got most of them.

Mar 10 2014

BSA Exhibition 2014 Part 2

Wading through the rest of the photos now. I’ll be doing the accents as a separate post along with a few other themes for the weekend.

Apologies if there are any doubles, I did revisit trees as the light changed in the galleries so some of these might be from the Part 1 post but better light.

Mar 10 2014

Gallery

BSA Exhibition 2014 Part 1

This gallery contains 87 photos.

As I sit here sorting through my photos from the weekend two things are clear to me. First, this was without doubt a top quality Shohin exhibition that any country in the West would be proud to be associated with. … Continue reading →

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Mar 8 2014

Just a Quick One…

Just a quick post from the BSA Exhibition at Willowbog Bonsai. An excellent display of trees to an even better standard from I was last here. Here’s a few sample photos to get you going.