oriental hornbeam #24

Oriental hornbeam, Carpinus orientalis, collected in Croatia. See the charm of the small foliage in spring!

azalea #2 again

azalea #2

Walter and Rene work on a spruce

Walter and Rene brought a very old collected European spruce, Picea abies, to the next level. The result will disappoint many, but this is professional work. The tree will rest for a year and then many of the branches will go and certainly be shortened. All the smaller branches can then be wired. Only then the spruce wil look good. To do this all at onec as many would is not a good idea with old collected spruces. One has to live with the fact that they look very bad during development.

 This tree is avialable for sale or trade.

Frank & Hervé from France were here

Frank & Hervé from France spent some time and helped a bit. Thank you.

red hawthorn in flowers

This is five weeks later than normal. That's how bad the weather was here in spring. This hawthorn is available for sale or trade btw..

 

Tradition in bonsai - Portuguese

Tradition in bonsai

translated by arzivenko

Eu tenho uma relação ambígua com a tradição do bonsai.

Primeiro, é a findação na qual nós todos construímos. É de onde o bonsai que vemos hoje veio. Para muitos é o bonsai; não existe nenhuma outra maneira de fazer bonsai. Nós devemos à tradição que possamos ver o bonsai como arte espalhada pelo mundo.

Eu acredito que todo entusiasta deva aprender o máximo possível sobre a tradição do bonsai, isto é indispensável. Eu acredito que o que chamamos "bonsai clássico" é para muitos nossa tradição. Tradicionalmente existem formas (normalmente chamado estilos*) que são designadas no estilo clássico. É um estilo que trabalha em direção à uma árvore ideal; uma abstração que apresenta a árvore perfeita. Todo designer de bonsai deve aprender como estilizar árvores nas formas tradicionais, com o espírito clássico.

Para além de estilizar árvores, existem várias outras tradições em bonsai. Existem os vasos, e como envasar, a apresentação em uma tokonoma, com o estande, objetos de acento, o pergaminho e muito mais. No espírito da arte asiática é completamente aceitável e esperado que outros tentem copiar as conhecidas obras primas e todos os aspectos da tradição. Qualquer divergência deste caminho é questionável.

O outro lado da moeda é que esta não é minha tradição. É uma tradição asiática, sobretudo uma tradição japonesa. Enquanto eu tenho o maior respeito por ela, eu me pergunto se o bonsai na minha parte do munto deve seguir rigidamente uma tradição estrangeira, e se deve, se vale a pena eu investir meu tempo. Bom, eu realmente não me importo, simplesmente me recuso a aceitar isto. Eu acredito que a tradição asiática pode ser usada como um grande ponto de partida, então partimos dela. Enquanto os ocidentais tentarem copiar as obras primas japonesas, bonsai não será uma arte universal. Copiar não é considerado arte na tradição ocidental. Um artista deve ser criativo e ir além da cópia. Nós devemos encontrar nossos caminhos, os quais podem se tornar tradicionais, eventualmente. Um ponto de partida poderia ser o questionamento da filosofia do bonsai tradicional; de criar árvores ideais. Eu sei que isto abre a porta para todo tipo de coisas sem sentido e criações atrozes. Também estou ciente que esta noção não ajuda o entusiasta medianos, o qual procura ajuda e afirmação. Mas abre a porta, pelo menos permite que nós criamos arte e não apenas cópias. Devemos, entretanto, sempre manter o maior respeito por nossos mestres.

Walter Pall

some oriental hornbeams

These are all oriental hornbeams, Carpinus orientalis, which were collected in Croatia. They are coming nicely. The crowns will have to grow a lot and ramifiy much better. In spring of 2014 they will get wired and look better afterwards. Anyway, it is quite encouraging to see them grow wo fast.

 

Interview with Iwan HD Wirawan from Indonesia

See the whole thing there:


http://www.bursabonsai.com/the-emperor-of-bonsai-europe/

Master WP who I admire

I am Iwan (www.bursabonsai.com) from Indonesia

Last year I had the interview you by email

As one of the world's emperor bonsai, we want to hear two or three sentences from you……

1.       How do you think about an idea or trend bonsai in the world, today?

Today I see several trends in the bonsai world. Mind you, I can really only speak about European and North America where I have extensive hands-on experience.

Trend 1: Bonsai is more and more done by younger people (20 to 35 years old) in Europe, not so much, but still in North America and very much so in South America. This compares drastically to the age of bonsai people in Japan as I am told. One reason for this trend may well be the development of the internet as the main communication line.

Trend 2: Bonsai has become much more international, crossing boundaries in Europe. At all major and even many minor events one sees people from many countries , which was not the case at all only fifteen years ago. Again I account this to communication being much better now. While Americans do not go to Europe in large numbers many are well educated about what is going on there.

Trend 3: More folks go for quality than before. While the mass of bonsai people are amateur gardeners with not much ambition there are many more now who aspire to higher quality in Europe at least; not so much in America, but still I see the same trend there. As a consequence many collections and exhibits are much better than they used to be.

Trend 4: More European trees are used in Europe and more American trees in America to make bonsai. It has become a strong  trend to work with indigenous material. While Asian trees can still be imported into Europe they are not as popular as they used to be. In America to import of trees from Asia is quite painful and people work much more with indigenous material than they used to.

Trend 5. Modern bonsai ( meaning very thick trees with lots of deadwood and rounded plastic-like crowns) are mainstream in Europe and becoming so in America. These trees in many cases are grotesque but this does not bother the general crowd. It does not bother them YET. There is also a trend to not do stereotype bonsai anymore and contrary to mainstream do trees which look like real trees instead of like plastic statues. As I am told this is also in some quarters the case in Japan. This may well be a paradigm shift.

2.       After experiencing health problems a little while ago, you are still going to travel to give lessons on the art of bonsai?

I had very serious heart surgery three moths ago my life was in high danger but I survived. By now I am in very good shape comparatively. in  many respects I can work just as I did before. i am still not supposed to carry heavy trees, but I do that more and more already. My physical shape is at 90 % of what it was before. I expect it to be over my former shape in three months. My mental shape is very bright and I am looking forward to many things. I can drive around in Europe already and will do just as I did before. I am allowed and wiling to fly even long distance and I will certainly do it. My life will be just what it used to be very soon. I already can do a one-man show full over a weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, as I have don so two weeks ago with great success. I am in almost better shape that I used to because my blood flows much easier now. It is my plan to continue traveling for at least ten more years.

3.       Previously, you still make a bonsai? Or just taking care of bonsai that you have created?

I make bonsai like I always used to. I do not make bonsai to sell but just to enjoy myself. So my collection is still growing. While folks at my age (69 very soon) are down-sizing their collection or giving up totally I still purchase and trade-in outstanding trees to work on myself. I plan to continue like this for more than ten years from now.

Life is possible without bonsai but it does not make much sense.

Next article in bonsai Focus about M&A tree

The next article about a huge oriental hornbeam by Marija &Andrija in Bonsai Focus is announced. See this:

go to Bonsai Focus and click 'preview' or whatever it is in your language:


http://www.bonsaifocus.com/