This month’s Bay Island Bonsai meeting was devoted to a bonsai critique by Akio Kondo. Kondo discussed the good and bad points of each tree, making suggestions for improvement and answering questions along the way. Occasionally – to our general encouragement – he pulled out scissors and made a few cuts. Here are some of […]
Styling
Styling bonsai gives trees their charm. Read the posts below to learn about the artistic decisions we make when working on bonsai.
Finding the front – Japanese red pine
A number of readers provided suggestions for Jeff’s Japanese black pine this week. Front #1 is the closest to the current front. It’s a great selection based on the current style – one that features balanced branches on both sides of the trunk. The second and third options were both popular, possibly because they present […]
Finding the front – Japanese black pine
The Japanese black pine pictured below hasn’t been re-styled in a long time. It’s healthy now, and ready for a change. Currently, the foliage is heavy on both the left and right sides. The owner is hoping to emphasize one side over the other. The two outstanding questions: which front is the most effective? and […]
Peter Tea styles Japanese black pine
Bay Island Bonsai workshops are always a lot of fun. Good atmosphere, good people, and plenty of good trees. Really good trees. At a recent workshop I sat next to Peter Tea who spent the day wiring a Japanese black pine. He finished just in time for some glamor shots with the tree. Peter Tea […]
Hinoki workshop
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a Bay Island Bonsai workshop run by Daisaku Nomoto. I selected a tree I’ve been working on for the past 15 years – a hinoki. The tree improves every year, but slowly, as hinokis are notoriously slow growing. A year and a half ago, Boon and I performed some […]