SURPRISE LATE WINTER WEATHER, FROZEN JUST REPOTTED TREES AND TIME TO REWORK AND REPOST SOME OLD VIDEOS!

Hi everybody,

last week or so we were unpleasantly surprised by a really bad cold spell with night temperatures of minus 8 so I had to stop in the middle of my repotting work. The ones that I already had don were kept in my upstairs bathroom with the window slightly opened so that they could defrost slowly! But this freaky weather gave me the opportunity to rework some of my videos on youtube to improve them and to change the claimed music with some great royalty-free tunes! Finding just the right music to fit my taste kept me up some extremely late nights…but I found some really nice beats and now there is no royalty claim any longer on my clips and 6 videos were upgraded for better viewing pleasure! I am finished just in time to start repotting some 20 + trees again in the next week and then I have to start wiring and styling some big trees of which one “The Elephant” has to be prepared for the international “Kei Bonsai Kai” exhibition that is staged for the second time on the 26th of May in the “GINKGO” Bonsai centre in Laarne Belgium! That I will film with my new camera and post so that you all can enjoy this Bonsai extravaganza on youtube!!! As well, I of course filmed and posted my two visits to beautiful Slovenia and the demo and workshops that I will give there!! So watch this space!!! So that wiring and styling is a bit of a hasty job because the buds on “The Elephant” are already swollen from the nice weather we had before Jack frost came back! So plenty to do in a hurry…but that is just fine and all a part of this great Bonsai hobby! Here are a few links to my redone videos.

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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“KEI BONSAI KAI” BONSAI EXHIBITION 2016 PART I & II (improved versions) REPOSTED ON TO YOUTUBE.

Hi everybody,

I have made a start to improve and/or adjust 7 of my Bonsai videos on youtube. Some were shakey and others had copyright issues and that bothered me so I bought a much better professional video editing program and have just reposted the first two remastered Bonsai videos back on youtube! It is the “KEI BONSAI KAI” Bonsai exhibition video Part I and II that I shot in May 2016 in the famous Bonsai centre “GINKGO” in Laarne Belgium. Don’t forget to visit the second edition of this amazing Bonsai extravaganza on the 26th of May this year!!! Believe me that you won’t be disappointed, so I hope to see you all there?! More improved and/or adjusted videos will be reposted during the next couple of days, so watch this space!!!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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MY WORKSHOP ON FRIDAY THE 6TH OF APRIL AT THE INTERNATIONAL BONSAI SCHOOL “TORA” IN SLOVENIA.

Hi everybody,

I am proud to announce that I will be giving a workshop on Friday the 6th of April in my dear Slovenian friend TOMAŽ KOVŠCA his International Bonsai School “TORA”.

TORA International Bonsai School

Besides being really honoured I am also very happy to be reacquainted and working again with a lot of my Slovenian Bonsai friends! I have already heard that it is fully booked…but maybe there is still a place for my workshop a month later on 19 and 20 May 2018 at the VIII yearly international Bonsai exhibition of the Slovenian Bonsai Club?! Hope to see you there?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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4 MARCH IN MY GARDEN AND A SENSORY TEMPERATURE OF MINUS 20?!

Hi everybody,

last week we had record-breaking low temperatures here in Holland and young and old grabbed this unique chance and went ice skating where and whenever they could! Typical Dutch fun…no wonder we won most of the ice speed skating medals at the Olympics!!! This was pretty precarious because I already had repotted several of my Bonsai the week before all this arctic weather started. The below pictures were made on the 4th of March.

I hope you enjoyed these unexpected Winter images?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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TONY TICKLE AND TERRY FOSTER VISITING MY GARDEN AFTER THE NOELANDERS TROPHY.

Hi everybody,

the Monday after this year’s Noelanders Trophy weekend my old and dear friends Tony Tickle and Terry Foster visited my garden before they would get on the boot from Europoort to England. This visit from Tony has become a real annual tradition this last decade or so and it is always something that we all look forward to. But this time was even more special because this time I had a special present waiting for Tony to thank him for all that he has done for me in the past. It was the now well-established air layer that I took 2 years ago from my big old Prunus mahaleb Yamadori. It has wonderful deadwood running all along its trunk and I am sure that Tony will make a stunning Bonsai out of it! It made me feel good to return the pleasure this time and I wish them both a happy future!

Below: Me and Tony and his Prunus mahaleb.

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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JUST POSTED MY SHORT VIDEO ABOUT ME ENTERING MY ILEX VERTICILLATA INTO THE 2018 EDITION OF THE PRESTIGIOUS NOELANDERS TROPHY!

Hi everybody,

I just to let you all know that I just posted the short video that I made of me bringing in my Ilex verticillata into the XIX 2018 edition of the prestigious Noelanders edition! In it, you can see how my Bonsai is photographed for the commemorative book and how I build up my composition in the almost still completely empty enormous exposition hall on the Thursday before the show…to go short: things you don’t often see about a big Bonsai show like this is! So have a look and forgive me for the not-so-good quality of the film…the lighting was still very poor then and I was very tired! But I still hope you like it?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

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MY DEMO AND WORKSHOP AT THE VIII INTERNATIONAL BONSAI EXHIBITION OF THE SLOVENIAN BONSAI CLUB ON 19 & 20 MAY 2018.

Hi everybody,

I have the honour to announce that on 19 and 20 May 2018 I will be giving a demonstration and a workshop at the VIII yearly international Bonsai exhibition of the Slovenian Bonsai Club.

This is the club of some of my best Bonsai friends so I could not be happier to finally see, meet and work with them again! And to be in lovely Slovenia again where I had such great adventures in the past is just a wish come true! 

Kmalu prijateljem.

Hans van Meer.

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MY VIDEO OF KUNIO KOBAYASHI HIS DEMO AT TEUNIS JAN KLEIN “DESHIMA” BONSAI STUDIO IS ONLINE!!!

Hi everybody,

I just want to let you all know that I posted the video that I made at Teunis Jan Klein’s “DESHIMA” Bonsai Studio (NL) of the amazing demo from Bonsai Master Kunio Kobayashi-san !!! He transforms a big field-grown Pinus thunbergii from China into a wonderful Bonsai! You just got to see it too believe it, just how fast this almost 70 years old Master works with most of the time 3 scissors in one hand?! And still finds time to explain everything and to constantly crack jokes! The quality of the sound and film is sometimes a little bit of…but I still hope you will enjoy this amazing master and the amazing transformation?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

VIDEO OF MY SMALL GARDEN MADE BY MY DEAR FRIEND TONY TICKLE (UK).

Hi everybody,

my dear old Bonsai friends Tony Tickle and Terry Foster (UK) came last Monday straight from the Noelanders Trophy to visit my house, and garden and for some light refreshments and a dinner and a lot of small and of course Bonsai talk! And although it was really freezing that day we still spend a lot of time looking at and discussing my Bonsai. Especially Terry was really interested in the (in his words) amazing ramification on my Yamadori Hawthorn named “LITTLE TONY”! And while we both were discussing it Tony was making a short impression video of some of my trees in the garden. It turned out nicely so I would like to share the link with you all so that you can get some sort of idea about my work and my tinny Bonsai garden. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it?!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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PICTURE OF MY ILEX VERTICILLATA AT THE NOELANDERS TROPHY 2018.

Hi, everybody,

here is a picture of my Ilex verticillata that I shot after the trophy was over and we all were breaking up our displays. I was really glad that I was able to do this then because the ones that I had made on Thursday before the show begin when I was preparing my display before the show were all too bad to use! I was really proud to be a part of this amazing trophy again which seems to get better and better each year. And it was great to meet again so many old and new friends that share the same love for this great art form! Really a great long weekend of Bonsai fun and I would like to thank all the volunteers that once again made this all possible for us all to enjoy! Thumbs up and see you next year!

The video of the show will soon be posted so watch this space!

Cheers,

Hans van Meer.

Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com

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