May 11 2017

The leftovers

Last week I did a bit of a tour of Ireland working with some of the chaps from the Munster Bonsai Club and even the odd Leinster man thrown in. I had a great week and was delighted to spend quality time with these guys. As I always say, Bonsai is as much about friendship to me as it is about the trees.

I did post each day last week but that was only a few quick snaps from my phone using the wordpress app. I’ve had time to wade through my camera and have added the leftover photos here for viewing. No order really, all a bit random, but I feel they capture the mood of the week. Thanks again folks for all your hospitality and for the kindness and understanding shown by your better halves. They all deserve a medal putting up with us lot for husbands 🙂

It was an awkward time to deliver work on many of the trees but we still managed some good work nudging trees in the right direction. Much planning was done for the future and hopefully some of the reasons why, when and how we do the work are a little clearer. Here’s the photos.

Before

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after

Marks

before plucking

after plucking

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Mar 15 2017

Ayr Bonsai

I had the great pleasure to be invited to talk at the Ayr Bonsai Group last weekend.

Popping over on the boat from Belfast on Saturday morning, Jeff Banning, club convener and SBA President, collected me and we spent the day looking at trees in gardens.

A great Scottie in a poor pic on a dull day.

English Elm with great character.

A Blue Cedar, one of my favourite trees from the visit.

Jeff and Ian chewing the fat.

A Scottish National Collection tree brought back into great health by Ian’s hard work and care.

Another Scottish National Collection tree above. Not a great photo in the rain, but a stunning tree.

One of my favourite trees of the visit above. A stunning wee Scottie in an Ian Baillie pot.

A little wet but this didn’t spoil my fun looking at some really nice bonsai. A great meal out with some of the members on the Saturday night at Ayr India Restaurant.

Sunday was the meeting day and Jeff and I undertook the long arduous walk to the hall, must have been at least 200 metres. On the way we past the birth place of Robert Burns some real wabi sabi going on there with the moss on the thatched roof.

The meeting hall hall was also a stunning location to give a talk. This is it before the members arrived.

I was kept busy with my talk on Bonsai design in the morning moving onto a tree critique in the afternoon. I failed to photograph some of the beautiful bonsai brought along for the sesssion. Some trees more than 30 years in the making and showing great age. I did manage to snap a quick selfie as we were packing up sorry to all those I missed in the pic.

A busy day and feedback was great. Hard task to deliver a talk to a group with such a wide range of ability and keep everyone entertained.

A few notes of personal thanks…

Thanks to all those members who attended and brought so many trees for me to see.

A big thank you to Peter and Ian for letting me visit your homes and view your collections. Trees to be proud of.

and best for last, to Jeff and Helen for putting me up for the night and making me feel so welcome.

Jan 14 2017

Sabina Juniper

Peter told me to pick something out to work on and I fancied a Juniper. With lots of great material to pick from both large and small, I opted for this Kifu sized one. I was left to figure out what options we had for the tree and if possible make it good from both sides. Most of Peter’s smaller (shohin) trees are good for either side, a great option for shohin display stands. Be nice to do the same with this one even at Kifu size. I gave the tree a preliminary clean up allowing me to study the trunk movement and branch structure a little more. Steve and I had a play around with it looking at a few possible angle changes both up and down. However what drew me to the tree in the first place was the angle it was at now. I gave my ideas to Peter just adding a possible tilt forward. I wanted to try and get two apexes on the tree but more separation was needed between the two main branches. As the lower one had shari, we opted to split the deadwood from the live vein a little to allow us to lower the branch further. A slightly risky procedure but fun. First Peter explained that before we carried out the split and bend that we should first look and see what other options we have if it goes wrong as a back up plan. There was a nice tree even if we lost the branch that was to be split.

The back..

and front…

Vein to be split from deadwood.

Making a start

Raffia applied

Wired up.

Initial bend put in place with an option to drop further if required.

Showing the amazing movement and twisting live vein.

During the wiring process

After wiring and lime sulphur was applied. Again the tree was not styled to look refined now. This is a Sabina with flower buds. As the foliage that is flowering now will die back when finished, we leave more of the fresher growth in behind to allow the foliage mass to be rebuilt later this year. There’s no point in fine wiring flowering areas when it will be removed within a year. What is important is the placement of the primary and secondary branches that will form the structure of the tree in years to come. A lesson learned from Peter all week – no point wiring what is being removed soon. An enthusiast may like to create the best image possible right now but is it good for the tree and a speedier development? No it’s not. Do what is required and move on to the next challenge. I still probably wired branches in this one that didn’t need it. A hard habit to break.

A check to see that it still falls within Kifu size.

It looks good from the other side too, but I forgot to take a photo 😦 A great tree to play with and I learnt a few things about Sabina along the way. Win Win.

Jan 12 2017

Reflection On a Great Week

Back home a few days now after a week away studying at Saruyama Bonsai. I’ve been giving some thought to all the little things that I learned in my time with Peter and also a few bigger things that are more concepts or approaches to creating bonsai. In all I think I got what I wanted from my time and I think Peter was happy with the work I did on his trees. I will now use what I’ve learned here to help progress Bonsai in Ireland and I hope to get back to Peter’s place again soon.

I’ve been through all my photos of the week and want to add them here as a reference for my work and also a memory of the good times had. I did a little posting when I had time during the week, usually in bed, but I’d like to be a little more comprehensive now I’m home. There’s a lot so I’m going to upload them as albums here and split them up over a few different headings. I’ll start with a few general shots from around the nursery.

Thanks to all those who I met at Peter’s place. It was great to work with Steve Salisian over from the United States and see his approach to bonsai, much of it gleaned from his sessions with Ryan Neil. Also to Jose, Steve and Les, who popped in for a few hours during my stay. Good to have time to actually chat to them rather than during the manic atmosphere at Exhibitions. And of course a big thank you to Peter, a great host, teacher and artist and Satomi who made me feel so welcome.

Steve McKee visiting for a few hours

Steve Salisian hard at work.

Jose stopping by for a cheeky beer after a hard days work.

Les spending a few hours with us on Monday, great to catch up.

And the boss, cheers Peter.

The rest of the general shots from the week….

Oct 8 2016

Group Workshop Announcement

On November 5th Bonsai Eejit and Belfast Bonsai, Phil Donnelly and I, are hosting our final joint workshop opportunity for 2016. Approaching 50 years of Bonsai experience between us, we can tailor the session to meet most needs on the day.

This is an ideal opportunity to evaluate deciduous bonsai and do some wiring. Pines, Larch etc can be brought for wiring and styling. If you have a tricky project that requires more than one set of hands, then this is a great way to get direction and assistance. A range of carving tools will be available if you require them. Feel free to bring multiple trees for working and advice. Workshop open to all levels of experience.

The workshop runs from 10am to 5pm, in Newtownards and includes a snack lunch with tea and coffee on tap during the day. Total cost for the day is £30 per person. Bring whatever trees you wish to work on and other material will be available if you wish to purchase a suitable workshop tree. Spaces are limited so to avoid disappointment please register asap by emailing me at bonsaieejit@gmail.com or using the contact me tab at the top of the screen.

Aug 4 2016

Workshop: MBC In Bunratty

Had a great weekend in Bunratty with the folks in the ever growing Munster Bonsai Club. A great mix of existing and new members on the day with lots of interesting trees to play with. Here some photos, some from myself and some stolen from the MBC guys.

Tight squeeze

Some sales items

Ray, the Boss at work

Busy busy

Tut tut Mark Tut tut 🙂

Piotr, another boss at work

More sales, Magic Ceramics

Harry’s little Larch finished

Kung fu fighting! Ninja Kieran

Finishing that Larch

How much for just the pot? 🙂

Mark’s Holm Oak finished

The gang minus Ilene who had to shoot off before the team photo. Thanks for supporting the workshop everyone, a very enjoyable and productive day.

Jul 16 2016

Bonsai 30

As most of you who follow my blog will know, I’m part of the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society. We have a special event coming up in September when we officially celebrate the 30th anniversary of our club. We are calling the event BONSAI 30. We have lined up an exhibition of bonsai from across Northern Ireland and from Republic of Ireland to showcase during this weekend event. We have worked with Belfast Parks to enable us to deliver this event at the Belfast Autumn Flower Festival at Botanic Gardens in Belfast on 17th & 18th September. We even have some guest exhibits coming from across the water in Scotland.

We aim to make this a fun event with free kids workshops and stands from Ikebana international among others, even a few trade stands. Plenty more to see both at the Fair and also around Belfast.

This is right in the heart of Belfast with plenty of hotels nearby along with shopping, restaurants and the odd bar 😉 The flyer for the event is below please share freely and if you feel the urge to pop over into Belfast for the weekend, the City Airport and a short train journey will bring you to us.

Jul 15 2016

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Bunratty Workshop with Munster Bonsai Club

bud bonsai workshop 2016

Jul 1 2016

Kusamono Workshop

Better late than never, I’m posting a few photos from the kusamono workshop back at the start of June. June has been a hectic month for me and I’m only catching up on things now.

I must say that these workshops are probably the best days craic you’ll have here in my garage and that’s saying something. There’s been countless sessions here over the years, mostly bonsai orientated, but for sheer enjoyment these have been a treat to host. I only wish I could post a few of the other photos I have from the day but sadly I don’t want to offend anyone :-O

As you can see most photos have people smiling or laughing, just look at the delight on Ben’s face below.

Even from behind you can tell Kris is smiling. Just look at that high cheek dimple 🙂

However I did keep them busy…

We kept Bob outside… Only joking, despite his American origins he’s been in Northern Ireland longer than the Scottish and English contingent at the workshop put together.

Some of the efforts from the day, they’ve still to fill and mature but are all great starting points. First the kusamono.

Shitakusa

Even some Kokedama, mostly from the mossball king on the day, Kris 🙂

I’ll finish with Ben having a zen moment between his usual bouts of hyperactive verbal Englishness!

Next kusamono workshop will be Saturday 20th August.

Jun 2 2016

Bonsai In Bunratty

Just helping to spread the word. If you are out on the West of Ireland and you want a great day with some fantastic people with of course, bonsai, then you might want to check out Saturdays Bonsai Workshop in Bunratty with the folks in the Munster Bonsai Club. Check out Bud Garden Centre

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