Category: MY WORK

Hi, everybody,

a few day’s ago I made some pictures of the fresh brightly green new foliage on my big Larch (XL). The new foliage is still immature and short and that makes the ramification look really special.
                                Below: View of the lower right side branches.

                                          Below: Bird’s eye view of the tree.

That’s why I like Larch Bonsai so much, they change their appearance all year round and that makes them quite unique! But it took me almost two day’s to wire this baby! And that was mostly to blame because of my bad timing and freakishly warm Spring weather! Most of my trees were still in my (now open) winter shelter because I was repainting all of my outdoor tables and fences! That took a bit longer than I expected and while I was struggling to paint the undersides of all those tables, Summer started! A week of short trousers painting followed and I even suffered my first sunburn, on one side of my face! Looked funny, but was quite painful! And then the buds on my Larch started to swell way earlier than last 3 years, and that meant trouble! When I finally finished painting my tables, I brought my Larch outdoor and started to carefully wire, without breaking off too many new buds! Well that was very tedious and time-consuming work, and on top of that, winter had returned as soon as I started to wire, and man it can get cold when you are standing still for hours to wire! And because of the tight ramification that I created my self during the last years, it was now almost impossible to get my big hands in between those branches to wire, without rubbing off a lot of buds!

Below: This one was made just after this branch was wired. You can see how many buds there are actually on the branches all ready, that I needed to avoid as much as possible!

Below: Here I am finally positioning the branches. In the background my freshly painted tables and fens!

It is a calculated risk to wire this tree completely just before the growing season starts! I wired it pretty loose on purpose because I need the branches to grow as much as possible in this fixed position. The wire will be monitored constantly and will be cut as soon as it starts to dig in the bark! Then at the end of this growing season, all aluminium wire will be cut off (that’s another full day of work) and then the tree will be wired with copper wire again, but not the thick branches that are already pretty fixed in their positions. This is all in preparation for the next Noelanders trophy in January 2013. The day before that show all wire except the tiny ones on the small branches are cut off as well! And than hopefully all stay nicely in possition!
I tryed a full day  to make a posh video of the work that I did on my Larch, with music, picture in picture and other fancy stuff! Like any 6 year old can do these day’s! But having to remake it all over again for the second time and than to loos it all again…I “###FUZZER RAZZER, RAZZZER FRAZZZER ## …managed to post two, on worked on short bits off video’s, straight on to YOUTUBE. I have to admit that at first I did not even knottiest that it was actually already uploading 2 of my 4 video’s! By the time I did, I only managed to add some info about who or what, but I did not managed or did not know how to change the titles that my new automatic friends at YouTube had come up with! So my first and most likely….last moving pictures of my work in progress that I ever posted for the world to see, are from now on known as……….wait for it……….114-0264.MOV and 114-0271.MOV! AKA “the sequel” of 114-0264.MOV! Ain’t it great, top of the world ma, TOP of the world…114 ##FUZZER RAZZRR##!

 It is so funny  to now be able to see just how happy I am after finishing a tree like this one! There is just no other feeling like it in the world! Collected in 2004, with not much more left on it than two long and tin branches! And than look at it now, this tree is starting to look huge! At the end of this growing season I hope to have lots of new fourth and fifth year growth on my already established first, second and, third year branches. Those tiny branches will be wired more upwards to fill out the winter silhouette of this proud tree!

Part I

Part II
PS: I discovered, YES all by my self, how to change the title of my video’s! The first one now is named: 115- instead of 114!

Has a better ring to it don’t you think?
 No seriously, this is what they are named now: “MY RESTYLED OLD YAMADORI LARCH BONSAI PART I”. And “MY RESTYLED OLD YAMADORI LARCH BONSAI PART II”.  Catchy dont you think?

And part III is  HERE!!   This one is a close up of the ramification on the tree. And still the birds can fly trough!
Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

I finally have found a Chinese round pot that is better suited for the new image of my Yew. The repotting went very smoothly, after all those years of root work, the present rootball consists for 90% out of small feeder roots. That made removing the old soil very easily. Although this new pot looks smaller than the old pot, there is actually more room for the roots to grow! This is important because the tree is still recovering from losing foliage and some branches and needs to fill out again! Anyway, I hope you guy’s like this new pot tree combo?!

You can find an earlier post about the history of this old Yew here: http://hans-van-meer.ofbonsai.org/2011/09/06/restyling-my-old-yew/

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

This little tree has been a Bonsai in my collection for well over a decade now. This little yamadori was a gift from Tony Tickle when he visited my house right after we had a wonderful time at the Ginkgo Award in Belgium (those were the days). It took me many years to shorten the very long and thick roots so it would finally fit into a small pot like the one it is in now (picture below). And I have learned a lot from taking care of this little tree! It has given me flowers every year and I really enjoyed how it looked the last few years in its wonderful John Pitt pot.

But there has always been a better option hidden in this tree, I knew that, but it was such a major change and so many well-established branches had to be sacrificed to realize the image I saw! Bellow: These next pictures were made 12-4-2009. I was recovering from my first back operation and could not do much more than to look over some smaller trees and make some future plans. And this Blackthorn was one of them! Here I found more or less the future planting angle and the new design that I would contemplate for a few more years until last week! The red arrow points at the reverse taper section that was very obvious from the old front! In my new design, this bulge will be almost completely removed and the deadwood section and the Jin that will remain are not that disturbing anymore!

Below: Just look how wonderful this natural deadwood looked after I cleaned it that day! This valuable section could not be seen from the former front! The arrow is pointing at a large thick root that over the years got more obstructive and right in your face in the middle of the trunk, seen from the old front! This was another reason to select this new front! And the reverse taper that is very obvius from the old front is less obvius from the new front!

Below: A virtual from my new idea made that same day in 2009. The pot is not finished, but is just there to see how a round pot would fit the future design.

So a few days ago, after I took it out of my winter shelter, I checked the tree over and I realized that I could not longer found any excuses to not drastically change the whole design of this, to me, precious little tree.

                             Below: View from above before the work started.

                                         Below: Here goes the first branch.

Below: And one by one the branches that I would not need in my new design are removed.

Below: The stump that was left when the branch was removed is converted into a Jin. 

Below: Many beautiful old branches were removed! I planted them with some rooting hormone in a pot. You never know if one will survive, but why not try it! 🙂

Below: Yellow arrow points at what is still left from the long root that took me several years to shorten. Red arrow points at were it will be cut this time around!

Below: After a few hours. The pot is to big and the tree is not exactly in the right spot!  But that will do just fine for now! I did not want to risk the health of this tree, by cutting of to many roots. The top needs to fill out some more, but that is only a matter of time! I cant wait to see it in boom!

So there it is, a new and rather more exciting image for an already beautiful little tree! I think it was the right choice, what you you all think?

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

Today is finally a dry day, so I grabbed the change and repotted two of my trees. The first one I did was my Shohin Weigelia florida an urban yamadori that I bought as raw material in 2009.

                                  Below: this is how it looked this Summer.

                                   Below: Free from its former training pot.

                                           Below: In its new temporary pot.

I think it looks really sweat in this pot for now. The bright green colour of this pot will match the deep dark purple/brown colour of the foliage. The coming years I will mainly focus on getting a better ramification and hopefully flowers, we will see, no hurries! 🙂

The second one that I repotted is a Hawthorn that I named, for obvious reasons, “Mae West”!

                      Below: “Mae West” still in her ugly plastic trainings tub.

Below: There were enough small roots to safely remove a long stump that was left on for safety when I collected this little tree in Wales.

                           Below: “Mae West” in her new temporary home.

Below: A close up of “Mae West” her pretty nebari dress, draped across the floor like she uses to do in many of her films. “He mister is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me”?! Brilliant!

“Mae West” needs to be wired again but that is for the future!  I love the challenge to make something out of not so good material. And that’s why I ended up with a tree full of ….well things that we normally don’t want on a Bonsai, but that is why she is so unique! There is a lot of beauty to be found in imperfection!

For now, she deserves some respect and time to recover! Hope you like these little fun trees?

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

last Friday, the day before the show, my student Ed van der Reek came over to my place to prepare our Bonsai for the Noelanders Trophy 2012. Because of a slight mishap when we moved my Larch around, it was no longer possible to show it at this years show! 😦  But my small Hawthorn that I repotted a few day’s earlier with out any problems in to it’s new Horst Heinzlreiter pot, was ready to go! And so was  Ed’s amazing looking  Hinoki “Chamaecyparis obtusa”. The wire was removed from my Hawthorn and then the soil surface and pots were looked over again to make sure everything was still looking tip top alright.Than Ed oiled up his cleaned pot to give it a nice shine for the show and then we were ready to secure the trees in 2 small crates, so that they were easier to carry and to secure in my car. Some small scissors, cleaning cloth, oil, spray can with water and Ed’s accent plant were packed into those same 2 crates. And then the open spaces that remained, were carefully filled with bubble wrap plastic! After I waxed and polished our tables everything was ready to go! Next morning at half past 5 Ed arrived at my place again, we packed our stuff into my car, enjoyed a quick coffee and drove off at  6  o’clock precisely! We arrived just after 8 o’clock at the venue in Heusden-zolder in Belgium and quickly brought all our stuff inside. Witch wasn’t as easy as it sounds, because there were some mean stairs to climb at the entrance! We arrived there first and it was a amazing view when we walked into the hugs exhibition space, were all other Bonsai were all ready in place. It was still dark out side and the inside lightning above the trees were still dimmed and it was completely quiet when we walked in with our trees…well that was as close to a religious experience as I have ever been! 🙂 Really a over powering feeling!

Below: This picture was made just 5 minutes before the doors opened. I shot it from the other side of this big venue. This is a view of just a small section of all the Bonsai on display. The one in the middle is my small Hawthorn. 

Below: My little Hawthorn is accompanied by a bronze crab that I imported from Japan a few years ago. It walks on a piece of driftwood that was a gift from Tony Tickle and his children well over a decade ago now! From the elevated place where I collected this Hawthorn together with Tony, you looked right down at the ocean, so it felt just right to show them as a combo.

                                                            Below: Close Up.

Below: Ed’s tree being photographed by Willy Evenepoel. This year for the first time a commemorative book will be made of this Trophy! So that makes it even more exciting! 🙂

Below: What Willy saw through his camera! I am really proud of what Ed has managed to do with this not so easy to maintain species!

                   Below: Sunday the second day of the show and still happy!

It was great to finally show some of my work again and it was even greater to meet so many of my old friends again, and to make some new ones on the way! I can hardly wait for the next edition! If you have not been to this edition, make sure you don’t miss out on the next one!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

This weekend (21 & 22 January) the thirteenth “Noelanders Trophy” will be held similar to last year in the Center for Sustainable Building in Heusden-Zolder. 130 Bonsai from all over Europe were finaly selected to be presented in this prestigious event and I am real proud to say that 2 of those are mine and a other one is from my student and friend Ed van der Reek! So this last week was a busy one! First I repoted my old “Hawthorn” that I am showing in to it’s new show pot from Horst Heinzlreiter. I was a bid anxious if it would fit into it’s new home with out having to cut off or disturb the roots to much, but luckily it all went pretty smoothly and I think my Little Hawthorn looks pretty special in this amazing new pot! A lot of time was spent trying out different display possibilities for my trees. Making a choice between different tables, accent plant or suiseki for the show is always  a fun part of this great hobby. It kept me busy for a few happy hours, and than I could finaly decide how to best display my 2 bonsai with the material that I had! I just finished waxing and polishing the tables and bubble wrapped them for the journey. Tomorrow my second Bonsai , a Larch, needs to be cleaned up. Hundreds of small yellow needles have to be removed from between the moss that covers the soils surface. And than the pot will be cleaned and than rubbed with some baby oil diluted in water to give it a bit of a shine to bring out the colors of the Brian Albright pot it is in! Friday afternoon will be the key day for this Bonsai, than all the wire will be cut off with the help of Ed. And I can only hope and pray that all branches stay fixated and in place! If not…well then I am in big trouble! The people who follow my work know just how importand open spaces in my work are to me! So I hope that they will stay in place with out the support of wire and that they dont collapse under their own weight, closing all that open spaces that I created between all the foliage layers! Fingers crossed! Than 5 o’clock this Saturday morning Ed will come to my place and we will load mine and Ed’s tree and all the tables and what not into the back of my car and than we have a 2,5 hour drive to Belgium ahead of us. I cant wait to finaly show some of my work again! 🙂

As soon as I have any info I will post it here on my blog so watch this space!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

Hi, everybody,
last week I rewired my little Hawthorn and for the last time I placed all the main branches into their desired position. This time it was almost impossible to apply the thicker wire without damaging the sleeping buds and the smaller ramification. And after the work was finished both my hands look like they have been wrestling a angry hedgehog! Next year when there will be even more smaller branches, it will be undo able to get my large hands and thick fingers in there to wire, so every thick branch needed to be in place after this styling! I am really pleased with this little Hawthorn’s progression and I hope that with two more years to work on the finer ramification, it will be just ready to enter it into the 2014 Noelanders Kifu competition! I hope that by than it will live in it’s special Dan Barton pot! I just cant wait to see how this little tree will look in 2014! Even after all these years in Bonsai, the waiting is still difficult!
                                                Below: Top view after wiring.

  Below: After the work was finished. The height of the tree is 33 cm/13,2 inch.

I Hope you like the progression of my little Hawthorn!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,

I would like to share some pictures of my rewired Ilex verticillata with you all.
Below: This is how this urban yamadori looked when I bought it in September 2009.

              Below: The end of January 2010. The tree before it’s first styling.

Below: And this picture is made three day’s ago before the wiring work started. I think that this image is already pretty good, considering that it only has been worked on for two years. I like this wild look, it works well with the gnarly image of the trunks! But there needs to be more subtle order in that chaos of branches. And there need to be more open spaces to create an image of a more distant tree.

Below: The day temperatures have dropped fast the last couple off days. So before I started to wire, I took advantage of this still warm Autumn sun and made a long walk along the beach close to where I live. Like I do almost every day! I get really calm when I walk alone along the breaking waves on my favourite beach. So when I got back home after two hours walking along an almost deserted beach, I was in just the right mindset to wire my Ilex! 🙂

Below: Left side view of the finished tree. I posted this on to show the distance between the three frond trunks and (see above) the middle and right side trunk in the back. They create a lot of depth that is lost in pictures!

                         Below: The end result after an afternoon of wiring.

I am pretty happy with the image of this pre-Bonsai. A few more years and than it is “hunting for a good pot” time again!
I hope you enjoyed this little story?!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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Hi, everybody,
yesterday late in the afternoon, the already setting Sun finally broke through the clouds! So I finally was able to make some pictures of some of my Hawthorns in their Autumn colours! And not a day to soon, last day’s rain and wind had thorn off a lot of foliage! And me moving them around too fast in a hurry did not help either! And in the case of the largest one, well I did not realize just how heavy the tree really was and having to carry it from one end of my garden to the other end, made me drop it just a little too hard on the table that I prepared for the camera! It snowed yellow leaves for a few seconds and left the poor tree almost naked! Anyhow, I wanted to share some of these pictures with you all. I just love to see those seasonal changes in these little trees!
Below: This “Dutch” Hawthorn yamadori is still in training and the two bottom branches that were allowed to grow freely for two seasons, still need to be shortened. And the rest of the branches needs more growth to fill out the desired image.

Below: This is another “Dutch” Hawthorn”, the large and heavy one I mentioned before. It lost most of its foliage, but I hurt my back again lifting it, so we call it even! This tree has come a long way in the past years, almost all branches on it are new and it needs a bit more time to fill out the foliage, but I like the way it is coming along!

Below: This is one of my older Hawthorns that I collected with Tony Tickle in Wales, way back in ’97! It lives for many years now, in this especially for this tree designed pot by Brian Albright. I was absolutely delighted to show it in the 2005 “Ginkgo Awards” in Belgium! Since then it has not been shown in another exhibition. I don’t bleach deadwood on my Hawthorns so it is a bit hard to tell from this picture, but the life vain curls all the way upwards around the trunk like a snake! And it’s literally bursting with live bark is getting better and better as the years go by!

Below: This is one of my favourites trees in my collection, it was collected in ’99 in Wales. I was proud to show it in full bloom in the 2005 “Joy of Bonsai” (UK) and a year later in the 2006 ‘Ginkgo Awards” in Belgium. Since then it has not been shown in any other Bonsai show. It needs some thinning out in the left top section and some smaller branches need to be wired to bring them back into place, but I like its image of an old tree and I love the bark that is getting better with each year that passes.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures?!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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