Useless tool, useful tool...

Following on from the last post talking about the importance of the client - professional relationship, one of the comments from Marcus made me realise that words, in the wrong hands are useless tools.  Perhaps I should have kept the extra pages I wrote as it explained my sentiments slightly better.  Some clarity is required here...

For those who have never had the chance of speaking with me in person may think of me as being very pro Japanese Bonsai, I studied there, I return there, I am a fan of certain Japanese aesthetics, some Eastern philosophical and cultural ideas...so this is a conclusion that may be easy to come to.  The truth is a much more convoluted situation and not quite so black and white.

One of the benefits of spending a full apprenticeship at a top garden where nothing is hidden, is that nothing is hidden.  Good, bad and ugly.  I have seen all sides of Japanese Bonsai, the way in which shows, judging and business operate and how the National Association has gone from a group that at it's peak had a membership of around 80,000 and was aiming for 100,000, to a membership of less than 10,000.  I have seen the quality of exhibitions drop and the attitudes towards business amongst the rank and file as well as the elite. In no way do I see this as a good model for western bonsai and am doing all I can to not replicate all that I have seen. There are good aspects to the Japanese model which is based on a professional - client basis and there are some bad aspects.  To deny that would be ridiculous, as it would be to focus on the bad aspects.  This is counter productive and it destroys peoples dreams and confidence in bonsai and Japan, but to live in denial is equally as counter productive. Finding the middle ground is difficult and as I mentioned in the last post, double edged swords a-plenty.  All we can do is individually strive for what we think is correct.

Translating the good aspects and ignoring the bad is one of the hardest parts of the transition between Japanese trained apprentice and Western professional, something which people like Ryan, Mike Hagedorn and myself are facing.  One of the things that helped me through the dark times was Ryan's unwavering belief that he had the ability and opportunity to create a Bonsai community that was pure, based on merit, ability and effort, along with co-operation rather than competition between professionals for profit and personal gain...exactly the same sentiments with which the Japanese Bonsai community started to grow in the post war period. As things stand, those two are doing a very good job of it...my progress is questionable.

In order to make a square peg fit into a round hole, the best thing to do is to try and make the hole a little squarer and the peg a little rounder, that way we get something which has the best qualities of both worlds.  This is why I felt a little dismayed by some of the negativity shown towards what in my mind was superb evidence of the progress which has been made towards excellence and what I considered to be a morally correct decision on the part of all parties involved.

Well...enough of the ramblings of a useless tool, here is a very useful tool which I finally managed to pick up yesterday.

A member of the Maidstone Club, Adrian Long, has designed a Shohin work stand which enables the user to change angle and orientation easily. The table top is sturdy and has a non slip surface and is big enough for your average shohin.  Adrian assures me that it is secure up to 6kg, but if you have a shohin that weighs more than 6 kg, then please change your soil mix to something less dense.

I used mine in conjunction with a large sized turntable which enabled me to spin it round as the top is fixed.  Adrian is working on a large floor standing turntable that will rise and fall.  I look forward to that as that is one aspect of Japanese Bonsai that I think should be adopted by many.  For the eagle eyed amongst you, yes that is Lady Saruyama's Juniper styled at the 2010 BSA show and displayed earlier this year as a work in progress.  The unusual tokoname pot, with carved design was a late Christmas present.

 Bolts and wing nuts as fixing points for the strong and unbreakable rubber bands.  Bungees are also available. The rubber bands are very tight and just one is necessary to hold the tree in place.

Aint nuthin' but a G-clamp baby...secure and stable.

Maximum angle.  The ball joint is tightened by the little handle at the front and is very tight, does not move at all.  Now that I look at it like that...maybe a windswept...no no no...hands off.

Useful with pines as well...this is the little shohin pine from earlier in the year.  Still only one piece of wire on it.  Need to get a smaller pot though....

I found it to be a great little table, much better than the one I had previously which had a similar design but the ball joint and the clamp was too slack so I never used it.  This one has a very secure and stable feel to it, and especially combined with the turntable it makes for easy work and easy work makes for good work.

Adrian is making them himself but has asked me to promote them which I am happy to do.  They are available for the tidy sum of £68 plus p+p.  Email me for more details and I will put you in contact with him.  they will be for sale at the Shohin UK show next year no doubt, but for any shohin enthusiast, I would recommend it.  I look forward to the big turntable.

And on that bombshell...to the bat cave.

Between a rock and a hard place

Somebody told me that blogging is only effective if done on a regular basis. I must have missed that lecture. The complaints department has been steadly filling with comments and so I have been compelled to pen a missive to the faithful. Meaningless I know but apologies...Im currently on a Ryanair flight back to the motherland, the flight is as usual full to bursting (except for two empty rows in front of me which are necessary for balance aparently). I have had to squeeze in between a kicking and screaming child and a lady who is flying for two to put it politely. The life of a bonsai professional is oh so glamorous...

Still, it hasn't all been budget airlines and infant induced stress since the last post...the garden is finished to a certain extent, polytunnel up, watering system in place and related problems a plenty. I think most of you are aware that I was the judge/demonstrator at the midwest show earlier this month. It was held in the Botanical gardens in Chicago, a beautiful location, but unfortunately it meant a flight through the immigration nighmare of O'Hare which is fast becoming my least favourite airport. The show itself was a good experience, having heard a little of the issues around the previous years show, including the hate emails and venomous comments towards the judge (That bloke Bryan summat or other), I must say that I was a little nervous. In retrospect, there was nothing to be worried about, the organisers, especially the indefatigable Cat Nelson were outstanding and although I was pretty busy (12 people in a three hour workshop), it was good fun alround.

There is a video taken of the critique I gave, shot in flattering black and white by OfBonsai, thank you for that, old school style. I haven't watched it, nor looked at the comments, but my inbox is yet to be filled with bile that Ryan received last year so I guess I didn't try hard enough to be offensive. Admittedly I have been off the grid for 4 days so it maybe. The demo tree was a massive spruce, grown in the gardens since '64 and destroyed in less than 4 hours. It was a messy tree at the end, but all things being equal, it will survive because of that, despite cutting off around 90% of the foliage.

There was, as always, some controversy at the show, with some people claimng moral high ground or jealously sniping away at the fact that a professionally styled tree was entered into the show in the professional category, with an amateur owner. A forum thread has been running on this which makes for some interesting and disturbing reading. I often wonder if and how bonsai will progress and where my place will be within the brave new world. I think one of the biggest problems, but also a deeply interesting aspect of Bonsai is the cross cultural issues that arise with the practice of what is essentially an eastern pursuit, within the cultural and societal framework of the west. Double edged swords aplenty...the need for professionals is essential in order to facilitate the movement of trees, pots and knowledge, something which is considered normal within the Japanese and Chinese Bonsai world; yet for some people, it is seen as cheating to use the services of a professional or in some way wrong for people to profit from their hobby. Do small trees attract small thinking? Sadly It often seems that way.

The professional - enthusiast relationship is not one often discussed openly for various reasons, but it is an absolutley essential relationship without which, Kimura, Kobayashi and Suzuki (or Neil, Noelanders and Valavanis) simply wouldn't exist in the way that we know them now, and there would be far fewer masterpiece trees. This relationship is an essential one, as long as it is mutually beneficial and is beginnng to be understood and accepted in Europe and the US but still there are some who think of it as cheating or are against the idea of an enthusiast displaying a professionally styled tree at an exhibition under the name of the enthusiast owner. This should not be seen as a haves or have not argument or a snake oil salesman pitch in order to drum up business, rather a call to stop and think a little about what we are hoping to achieve with Bonsai, to improve the art form as a whole, or to accumulate personal glory? Although pessimists will say the latter is the reason for buying a professionally styled tree, it is in fact the former which can be achieved a lot quicker with a symbiotic relationship between the enthusiast and the professional artist.

Anyway time for bed. Just had to get that off my chest. I had in fact written a page more but deleted it because it could have been interpreted as too much like a sales pitch. Will have some pictures this week for those who are still looking. My senpai Akiyama is cming for a few days next week, so i will be busy working on getting stuff to a presentable condition.

Autumn is coming...make sure to fertilise accordingly...lay off the nitrogen so no new growth is induced that won't have time to harden off, let the tree expend any nitrogen it has in the system and look towards high P K fertilisers, especially bonemeal for an autumn to winter fertiliser regime. Get the roots, foliage and cell walls hardening ready for winter.

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New arrivals

As per usual it has been a while since the last post. I have been working, mainly at home as work continues apace at saruyama towers...or should that now be saruyama-en? When I say apace, I am comparing it to a snail...and a particularly lazy one at that. As many in the UK will agree, the weather has just not been very good this year. A washout of a summer has made it difficult to build up a head of momentum and progress has been stop start. Still, the workshop is up, half the benches and will soon be finished. Next week should see big progress...which is just as good because I am at capacity on the tree front already. Up until recently my tree collection had been scattered around the country, now they are all together and in one place and I cannot remember buying half of them. There is also a definite theme running through my trees, lots of tall thin trees, some strange ones and a lot in needs of working.

Although there is little room at the inn, a recent trip to Spain and a trip round the UK has added a few more trees to the collection. I have recently imported a few trees from a collector in Spain, mainly Sabina's which seem to have a bad image in the UK and there are very few who can successfully grow them. Im going to give it a crack as there is plenty of good priced chuhin sized trees around that will make great little trees...watch this space. A few olives came over as well and they are just getting acclimatised to the miserable weather.

A few snaps of the material...

A cracking chuhin scots pine, a large sabina and a few mystery trees in the back

 

Picked up some lovely maples, lovingly grown from seed with great nebari and a superb future. Shohin sized sabinas as well...both will make some pretty funky cascade trees...might need a unique pot or two.

One of the more refined trees. A fatty boom batty shohin olive...what was it I said a while back about elegance rather than power??

Thats more like it...a wild olive as opposed to the sylvestris shohin. As you can see its still a building site.

Hoo-har...old silver birch group. Mochi-komi a-go-go. If that makes sense then you are speaking my language.

The special shohin sabina. Will it fit into a pot? Has an err....individual character in the root/live vein region. The joy of working with yamadori.

Still, the thing I am most proud of this year are the giant Daikon we are growing...The slugs have been defeated, the soil fertile and the possibilities for such a massive thing are endless.

On a serious note...trees up and down the country are suffering from nutrient deficiency, most likely magnesium, but also others. The excessive rain has washed it all out of the soil. Recommended course of action is a dose of calcified seaweed, or a few regular waterings of seaweed extract. Let the soil dry a little, then water with seaweed extact. If they are really bad then a dose of epsom salts and lay off the high K fertiliser. Like rock on scissors, K beats Mg...so if you have yellow leaves, lay of the fertiliser and go for the micro nutrients. Organic where possible...coming into the second part of the year we must make sure our trees are green, healthy and able to get through the winter.

I believe the sun will be making an appearance shortly, so take care that tender foliage which is still fleahy and juvenile does not suddenly get sun burnt. As half the year has been a wash out for most trees, take care of them and dont push them too hard...they cant bounce back.

On that bomb shell, I will leave you with my favourite karaoke number....

 

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Youth of today...

A theme which has been playing on my mind of late is the lack of expression of youth within bonsai, not just in the West but also in modern Japan.  What is that you say??? surely this is contrary to all the accepted aesthetic idea and teachings that we have drummed into us...wabi-sabi , mochikomi, patina, antiquity, bending all our branches down to make them look old, dead wood etc.

I'm a big fan of proverbs and sayings, although they can be quite trite, there is generally a truth behind them and it can spark off a train of thought which can often derail...as it did with "saruyama no taisho". One that I read which has stayed with me is applicable to this situation i have found myself in..."You start with flowers, end with flowers...". In a sense, this refers to the focal point of one's interest within bonsai as you age, something which changes as experience builds up and life ebbs and flows.

As a youth, the attraction is to the bright, immediate and showy, so colourful flowers are appealing. They are easy to understand and disposable. As we age, gain power and wealth in our lives; big, powerful black pines, convoluted, deadwood heavy junipers and elephant footed maples become the focal point. Immediate and obvious impression making trees. Time passes, we grow weary and the novelty of power and wealth fades along with our vigour.  Subtle trees with less showy characteristics become more and more prevalent in our thoughts; aged literati and elegant deciduous built on years of dedicated work and patience, both of which are understood better after years of suffering. Once we reach the twilight years and a profound understanding of the vagaries of life has been achieved, the spectre of death looms. At this point we come almost full circle and flowers become appealing once again.

At this point although the focal point is the same, the perspective is entirely different. A lifetime of experience and a change of priorities make the same flowers appear in a new light. When faced with the truth of human mortalilty it is inevitable to celebrate new life and the awakening of buds after the harsh winter. Although this may seem morbid, traditionally death is not to be feared in the Japanese mentality, it is not seen with the same finality as it is from a Western perspective.

So coming almost full circle, we return to the appreciation of youth, something which is really only apparent in the use of accent plants within our bonsai world. When was the last time you styled a tree with upward pointing branches? Reachng for the sun, striving to explore, grow and experience....now I am not saying we should turn our back on the traditions of bonsai, making our trees look as old as they can is as important as ever, it too has its deeper meaning, but the follies of youth should not be forgotten, they are still a part of the natural cycle, an essential part of life yet strangely overlooked in a rush to get towards the finish line.  I should say that creating a tree to look young still takes time and effort and the point I am trying to make should not be confused with trees that are still young in development.

So what caused this refrigerated truck of thought to veer into conciousness? Travelling around looking at trees in their various natural habitat I have always been struck by the difference between much of the deciduous styling and natural growth habits, but the main catalyst was a chance meeting between me and a sweet and tender hawthorn.  I was rooting around behind the benches of a nursery and there she sat, under a tree, surrounded by others; unappreciated because of the upward pointing branches, the slender pubescent trunk and lack of commonly accepted character. The uniqueness of it struck me and made me feel invigorated and I was moved to purchase it for further development. Moving the tree around the other day, I wish it could have invigorated me more, sadly my vigour, especially in the lower back is lacking.

Yes, I know that it is a little on the strange side and doesn't fit in with the normal accepted side of bonsai but...well, it's important to be at every stage on the natural cycle and if we always stay camped within our own box and show a distinct lack of adventure, then eventually we will go out on penalties.

Once the garden is finished, I will work on styling it, so expect some pictures eventually. I may even use a camera.

Onward and Upward...

At 36,000 ft. the trip across the US doesn't seem so bad. On my way home after a long and eventful four weeks in America, and in four and a half hours I am covering the same distance as 3 days of non stop trucking...

The lack of updates has been due to a combination of tiredness, work to do and the European Championships. Been some cracking games so far, lets hope we don't crash out in a John Terry fuelled ball of fire. Spending time at International Bonsai Mirai, the garden of Ryan Neil, it is at times overwhelming, both the amount and quality of material he has and how much he has been able to achieve in two and a half years. As a contemporary and friend it is difficult to not draw comparisons, we all suffer from tree jealousy and ego problems no matter how hard we try and restrain or justify it. Thankfully the pair of us have different skill sets and also different but similar visions of bonsai and how it should be done, so comparisons are a bit like apples and oranges...plus we are both relatively happy with the paths we are walking.

Over the last five days and also during the more lucid conversations in the truck, a great number of ideas and bits of information were shared and discussed. One great learning experience for me was to be forced to work outside the comfort zone a little and style a tree for Ryan. He had been telling me he had a tree he wanted me to style for him for some time and kept dropping the idea. I had done it a year or so ago with a little literati spruce which i worked on again this time. It seemed a very alien and to be honest quite frightening idea...to style a tree for another professional, especially a collected piece for one of arguable the most talented and knowledgable yamadori artists around. Opening up the potential for criticism, for faliure and for ruining a valuable tree is difficult enough for a client, but the stakes are raised even further in this situation. Still it was time to go big or go home and it was done to the best of my abilities...but with a great amount of caution used...despite Ryan's comments to have at it.

Lovely, leggy, elegant juniper before....

Having never really worked with Rocky Mountain Junipers on a massive scale I took great care in the approach. Maintaining a large foliage mass is essential with all junipers and there were a number of branches with internal growth that I would normally have cut back to, but by the end I had removed around 40% of the foliage and so that was bordering on the limit of pruning. The foliage was left on the end of the branches to become photosynthetic energy generation area which would create the resources to generate new foliage growth inside the tree. As the tree would need to be transplanted next year, there is a need for foliage to create the energy to grow roots.

The RMJ has been getting a bad press for a long time, recently it has been taking some flak from certain people with very strong ulterior motives but it is clear to see with the trees that were in the 3rd national show that given a few years and the correct techniques and care, the foliage does turn mature and become compact almost to the point of looking like the holy grail, Itoigawa. Rather than slander the RMJ in the US or Sabina in Europe as a difficult and unworkable tree, there needs to be a major change in the way people approach styling, because the demonstration style "image in a day" hasn't worked at all. Maintaining as high a foliage mass as possible whilst pushing the tree in the correct direction is important, not cutting back to a bare skeleton structure with next to no foliage and expecting it to grow out.

Stood up, wired and initially styled. The sacrificial branch at the front is tied up and will be used to maintain balance and for energy production. Yes i know it is a terrible picture...what do you expect from me? There will be better pictures in the future.

Ryan seemed happy with the final tree and was generous enough to say that he would not have styled it that way. I took it as a compliment. I thought it a very brave and humble move for him to have trees styled by other artists in his garden, but he said that it was necessary to have those trees as it opens his horizons and stops him falling in a rut. It certainly helped me to do the same by styling it and I am looking forward to him repaying the favour when he comes in January.

Much of the conversations during the trip centred around the upcoming Artisans Cup of Portland, the bonsai exhibition that will be held in the Museum of Modern Art in October of 2013. It promises to be an amazing event and it will take bonsai to a new realm, a different audience and I am very excited about this. Different display methods and new ideas are to be encouraged and thinking outside the box will be a big part of the show. American Bonsai will hopefully come out the otherside with a strong voice and identity. It is an interesting and exciting time to be involved with bonsai and there is great anticipation. On a personal level, it has given me the kick up the backside that I needed to do similar things in the UK. Having had a few opportunities which I didnt pursue, I have nobody to blame but myself. Ideas are forthcoming but the resources to back them up are not so enthusiasm slowly wanes. Like Ryan who is dipping very deeply into his own pockets to fund the show, I need to go big or go home...

Anyways, here are some shots from around the garden. Nothing much as he is making a new website, lots of pictures will be available there, so no spoiler shots here.

This, rather strangely, was one of my favourite trees in the garden. A 25 year old container grown beech that looked so natural and had the greatest sense of mochi-komi which is impossible to recreate. An outstanding little tree.

I had a good time hanging out with the boys...Ryan has two full time apprentices now, both great guys who are at the start of a long journey. It reminded me of the age of innocence. So much to learn and look forward to...

Tom is from Tennessee via the Army and California...

JP is from Paris and is a quiet, sensitive soul. He is balding and bearded...kind of sounds familiar.

Both rather amusingly are massive Shohin enthusiasts...I wonder if that will last.

I will be back in the UK for a while, got my corner of England to sort out. Apparently there is a cat sized slug attacking the vegetable patch although methinks the lady doth protest too much. There are some workshops up at Willowbog at the end of the month and I will also be doing some private work around the country. Once the garden is up and running a little, some more pictures will be up and I will start to work on my own trees for once.

Hallelujah...

After leaving Rochester At 7pm on Sunday night, we made it back safely and in one piece to Ryan's. The pce was equally as punishing as the trip out...we stopped the one night in Cheyenne At what can nly be described as the greatest hotel/haven we have ever encountered, Little America. God bless you Little America.

We are all exhausted and in a state of mental and physical exhaustion, not helped by the constant diet of caffeine, Cliff bars and buffalo wings. I have had a few emails badgering me to blog more but it has been kind of difficult...so rest assured that we did it, not a single tree damaged, pot or stand broken and all the trees look happy and well watered after their little trip east.

The show was a success in many ways and more on that later...I just want to share with you the sight that greeted us as we drove into Oregon this morning at 6 am...I had just switched over after driving the night shift and the sun rose over the hills and Jeff Buckley came on the ipod at random...it was a sublime moment of exhaustion combined with elation at a job nearly done and awe at the natural beauty.

 

I will describe some of the highlights later when we have sifted the truth from imagination and also censored some of it.

There is a sense of relief in the camp...now we have to hang up our trucking gloves and deal with real life again...

Safely arrived...

After a gruelling first session that took us to Cheyenne, starting Sunday night and arriving 24hrs later, we set off for the second leg of the road trip. Originally we had planned on going as far as Chicago, a 14 hour drive, stopping the night and then driving the rest the next day. Things however never go to plan and due in no small part to the immense manliness of us all, we pushed on non stop right through to Rochester. Operating in rotation we literally trucked on through the night with a marathon 35 hour drive.

The main concern was the temperature in the back of the truck and although we had a refrigerated unit, it was only used a couple of times when the temperature rose significantly above 70 F. Allowing the trees to get too hot in a humid and stale air environment could result in fungal problems so we kept a close eye on the temperature. Equally of concern was making it too cool and subjecting the trees to a massive temperature gradient on arrival and due to some mild weather here in Rochester, that too has been avoided. As all the trees had been thoroughly watered before loading up there was no need to water then en route, but needless to say they were checked every six hours when we stopped and changed up or refuelled.

The main reason for pushing the driving to such limits is one of tree safety, the longer they are in the truck, the highest rate of developing problems. Carefully balancing that factor with the safety of driving we managed to do it in the least amount of time possible and with only one scary point where we limped into a truck stop with the red fuel light glaring. Other than that it was plain sailing....and contrary to some comments, the clutch was not burnt out as it was an automatic. So there Snarty.

Although it sounds pretty tiring and dramatic, we did actually have fun, the conversations ranged far and wide and ae definitely not safe for publication...we talked a little about bonsai. It was mainly just guys talking rubbish. We did have a lengthy comparison of the idiotic things we did during our apprenticeship and relived some of the dark old days...although they were quickly forgotten in favour of things less cerebal.

The pressure on Ryan is very similar to that which I felt in the run up to Noelanders earlier this year. It is a huge commitment to make, taking the responsibility for the trees which are clients prized possessions into which a lot of time, effort and money have been invested. One false move, falling asleep at the wheel or losing concentration could spell professional disaster...but it is an essential part of pushing bonsai to a higher level of quality which will benefit all involved in the art. Without creating a national or international exhibition of the highest level where trees can be displayed, then the art will stagnate and the level ultimately drop. Having shows like the US national, Noelanders and also the show next year that will take place in Portland, the level and expectation of quality in Bonsai will undoubtedly improve. Raising the standard in a sustainable eay is the responsibility of professionals and if that means putting in a marathon shift behind the wheel of a refrigerated truck then so be it.

for those of you growing up in the 80's in the uk...

 

To bed...we have set up tomorrow mornng.