This little Cork Bark Elm was the base of an air layer a few years ago.
August 2011
September 2011
and now…
Ready for a hair cut and a repot into a more suitable pot.
In it’s new home. I’m loving yellow and orange pots at the moment 🙂
Still a few heavy bits to be cut out but I’m getting there.
#changeonething #onlygoodthings
Most of you will have heard of the craze that is sweeping the world via Facebook.
NekNomination – which is known by various monikers and spellings in different regions – is a game in which a person is filmed downing their drink in one go, before nominating others to do the same on camera. Frequently, they nominate friends in other countries, which is how the fad has spread so quickly around the world.
This craze has resulted in many deaths two of which have been here in the UK and Ireland.
I teach young people about drugs and alcohol and how to stay safe, so as you would expect, this particular craze grabbed my attention. As I researched it further I came across some who were making a stand to turn a negative into a positive. This video shows one should person.
People like this are doing their bit via twitter #changeonething #onlygoodthings to turn a bad thing into something good.
Well this got me thinking! What about starting a ‘Bonsai NekNomination’? I’ll start…
Our club got a new member at the weekend. Drew is 16 years old and just starting bonsai. When many teenagers are more interested on xbox or alcohol, here is a young man who is doing something much more positive in his life.
To encourage him I gave him a Taxus Baccatta, Yew, as his first tree. This was repotted and pruned at our club workshop on Sunday where Peter Snart of Willowbog Bonsai gave him a pot for the tree. This was my ‘Bonsai NekNomination’. This is Drew’s day in pictures.
Well done Drew, not easy to be thrown in at the deep end with a bunch of strangers, but you took it in your stride. Lets keep it going 🙂
If you are not following Mr Warren’s posts from Kokufu 2014, you are missing out, click the image below to see trees from the first half of this two part show. Maybe he’ll let me steal his photos 🙂
You heard it here first, Jim Carey is starring in a new horror movie where he uses a Makita Die Grinder to hollow out the insides of unsuspecting bonsai enthusiasts heads. He infiltrates clubs and gains the confidence of members. He is even know to gain a seat at the committee table before he strikes 🙂
Ok, not true, but Ben does look like Jim Carey and this photo of him carving in my garage last Saturday is pretty darn scary 😀
Ben was here to play with my carving tools and gain a little experience using same. He spent most of his time on a raw material pyracantha stump but also managed a little work on an Elm and a Lonicera clump.
Stephen came down to give me a hand removing wire from a Larch I have and to make sure Ben behaved.
Always good when you remember to put a towel down to stop copper wire getting into the potting mix.
I played about with a raw Collected Scots Pine. I wanted it to resemble some mature trees near where it was collected. It will take a few years to fill and develope but I think it will make a nice image. Nice bark and better character than the photo shows.
This was the lonicera stump that Ben carved. First photo from a few months back.
An enjoyable afternoon.
Europe’s Premier Bonsai Exhibition with be held this weekend, The Noelanders Trophy has become the standard for Europe’s bonsai.
Click on the image below for the Full Brochure.
I have yet to make it over for this sadly but plans are afoot for next year 🙂 I have, in years past made it to the old Ginkgo Award which was truly magnificent.
This year’s Noelanders in slightly different, NO PHOTOGRAPHY. Funnily enough, so was Ginkgo, indeed the camera police there were evident, making you check in your camera at the door!
I do appreciate the issues around this, and we all know that people take liberties, before you know it there is 6 tripods set up in the middle of the crowd blocking access! There is also a beautiful book produced each year showcasing the exhibits.
Xavier, over on Petit-arbre.com posted about this very subject recently in this article linked here. He even received a reply from the organisers that can be read below:
___________________________________________________________________
Why?
Due to the increasing number of visitors and because we want visitors to enjoy the beauty of our bonsai exhibition in the quiet, we decided not to allow photographs.
Watching a bonsai takes longer the click clack of a camera. All trees will be photographed by a professional photographs that will be available in a colour book for less than a memory card prices. We are sure that every visitor appreciate the new atmosphere.
Exception
Professional photographers acting on behalf of magazines or newspapers can get a map at the entrance of Press Noelanders Trophy.
Where?
prohibition relates only to the exhibition hall. Everyone is free to take pictures at demos in the professional market and during the gala dinner.
Why not on the web?
Professionals and bonsai enthusiasts spend a lot of time creating their works of art. We should all respect their vision and taste in bonsai.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and we wish you a wonderful weekend Noelanders Trophy.
Bonsai Association Belgium
committee.
___________________________________________________________________
For the last few years a friend has attended the show and kindly shared his photos with me to place here on the blog. I will really miss the excitement this year of seeing the images pop into my email account and the rush to get them up. I know from the hits that I got on that day [45,000 last year] that I’m not the only one. We can’t all get there and many from around the world crave to see what the standard was like this year. The world gets to see the trees showcased adding even more kudos to the event.
Will web snaps affect book sales? I guess that’s hard to ascertain. I personally like to buy the book anyway, hard to bet a quality gallery book to flick through. I’m sure there are some out there who will go the other way though.
It will be interesting to see how things work out this year. I’m pretty sure that folk attending will have a better viewing experience, but banning tripods would probably help in that regard as well. Will book sales go up? Again we will have to wait and see , but we probably won’t be privileged to that information anyway.
As far as the web images go, I personally think most artists are happy to see their trees showcased to a mass audience, probably 10 times more than will ever visit the show or buy the book.
What I am sure about is that this will yet again be an amazing event, not just because of the quality of bonsai exhibited, but because of the dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism of the event organisers, Bonsai Association Belgium
Hey maybe next year they’ll let an avid bonsai blogger get a press pass 🙂
For those attending, have a great weekend and I look forward to hearing the stories about the ‘Goings On’ emerge 🙂
Took our regular Sunday walk in Belvoir Forest Park in Belfast this morning. It was one of those days when you see unusual things. When we reached the river a seal popped up and followed us for a while, I think it was fascinated by my dogs. The feeling was mutual 🙂 It must be a good few miles up river from Belfast Lough as you can see in the map below. We left the river and came back past it later on but on the other side and low and behold, there it was again.
While we where watching in a Kingfisher flew past, Stephen first even sighting which made it special. Add in some other local wildlife and it was a great walk.
Won’t be walking for a while now as I managed to wreck my ankle in the kitchen on the return home! It never ends lol
Image
I posted about this Larch recently. It’s the latest addition to my collection. Originally a landscape with a rock in the pot, I removed the rock and have now wired the tree into it’s new shape. Next step will be a repot. I can see a few problems with the roots and fitting them into an appropriately sized pot. I think I have one for the job but time will tell.
This is the before shot
Rock removed
This is it after wiring and shaping. I have removed a heavy front branch that was blocking some of the real character exhibited in the trunk line. A small jin created but this may be removed soon. I’ve just left it for now to consider.A lot of thinning out done and many smaller but overly heavy branches removed.
A slightly different angle that shows the trunk line a little better.
Image
I did a little tidy up on some late shoots on my Escallonia. This is it before the trim and shows the old front.
After a trim
The new front.
The back showing another live vein
This is a Cotoneaster that Stephen brought to my place a few weeks agao to do a little carving and eventually restyle. It had lost two weak branches at the back and was placed into this tub to regain vigour for the last year. This seems to have worked.
Stephen cover this session on his blog HERE
Yesterday afternoon Stephen came back to do the wiring and styling. We also did a little more carving. This was it before we started wiring.
After some wiring this is the image that Stephen preferred for the tree.
I found this older photo of it from back in 2011
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