Sep 7 2013

Cedar Session

Last night I was working on a cedar with a friend in a one 2 one session. This tree was originally a garden centre tree chopped down to create the basic structure required to make a bonsai. It was sold by the original owner to Willowbog Bonsai and in turn sold to my friend. It has been worked on at a few workshops here over the last 2 years, getting deadwood created etc, but now was the time to get it wired and into shape.

October 2012 at Peter Warren Workshop

June 2013 at Willowbog Workshop

Shari added

Cut back after shari added

and now before work starts

And this is it now after last nights work. Not fine wired but starting to come together nicely. Shots from each side, a few close ups and a beer can for scale, also drunk on the night 🙂

And all together for comparison

Aug 13 2013

Field Maple Rethink

I was taking another 1to1 session last week and the client brought along this ‘Mother and Child’ Field Maple. A large tree that has been neglected for a number of years after the original owner died. The new owner wanted some direction with the tree and we set about removing what was over grown aiming to leave what would make the basis of a good structure of the new

We opted to change the front slightly to bring the child trunk slightly further forward. The original front had both parallel to each other.

This it it after removal of over extended and straight branches.

A few issues remain but these can be sorted next year when we see how the tree responds to this cut back and a major repot to get it out of the peat that it’s in now.

Jun 26 2013

One to One Bonsai

Well, last night was a first for me. I was asked a few weeks ago after a discussion about pushing yourself further as a bonsaist, if I would do a one to one workshop by a club member.

Up until now, any teaching of bonsai by me has always been in a club environment as part of a pretty big group or just among friends having a lark and a good time. I have organized a lot of workshops with outside professionals and I have taken part in many workshops, even 1 to 1 and 2 to 1 sessions. I don’t do bonsai to make money and I have always tried to be self deprecating and humble when it comes to bonsai, calling myself ‘Bonsai Eejit’ being a prime example. There are so many people out there better than I am at this malarkey and by putting yourself out there as if you know it all, can leave you open for the usual abuse by the small minded!

So when this request came to me, I had to think long and hard. Do I really want to do this? I feel that I am a pretty decent at helping others learn bonsai, in fact, it’s what I enjoy most about club life. No one out there in Ireland that I know of is offering 1 to 1 tuition. So, what the hell, I’ll give it a go and see what happens. Dr Pepper, What’s the worst that can happen?

So getting back to last night, I did a 4 hour [well 5 really] session with my victim. We started off by looking at how to evaluate a bonsai, good points and bad, a massive topic and one that will feature in each session. I was taught this myself in 1 to 1’s with Robert Porch years ago and it has stayed with me ever since. We then had a look at a Juniper brought along for the session. The main purpose was to learn about wiring basics but we got carried away and managed to get the full tree wired on the night. I even set homework, but I won’t go into this in case he cheats 🙂

Feedback has been fantastic and another session is being booked for next month, so I think it’s safe to say it went well.

The whole process also helped me focus on what I feel is important about bonsai and, in a way, helped me learn a little on the night too. The only criticism made was that I made him sit at this school desk 🙂