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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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.
Hi everybody,
last Tuesday evening on the 30th of January I drove all excited to Nieuwekerk aan den IJssel (NL) for the evening demonstration and meet and greet with the great Japanese Bonsai Master Kunio Kobayashi. My dear friend Teunis Jan Klein (the owner and the proprietor of the Deshima Bonsai Studio managed to get this superstar of Japanese Bonsai to do an evening meet and greet and a spectacular evening demo on Tuesday. And on Wednesday and Thursday, a daytime workshop for 8 people under the guidance of the Master followed by an evening traditional Japanese Kaiseki dinner with the master and his charming wife in the top Japanese restaurant Yama Cuisine in beautiful Rotterdam (NL). Teunis Jan has managed to organize something truly special and unique in the Bonsai world! I was regretfully only able to attend the evening demo…but boy oh boy what a top evening it turned out to be! And what an amazing specimen demo tree Teunis reserved for master Kobayashi his demo! It was a large field-grown Pinus thunbergii that he bought over a decade ago when he was in China for his work as a purchaser for a large Bonsai importer. Over those years he skillfully managed to get tons of new foliage all over the branches so there was plenty to work with for this demo! The tree has amazing bark and beautiful movement and was well fit for even a master like Mister Kobayashi! After Teunis gave the audience some explanation of how he went about organizing this 3 days event he introduced Satoko Takagi the translator who would translate every word mister Kobayashi would share with us into Dutch. And then he introduced the two skilful assistants that would help the master that evening, the first one Hugo Zamoraluna from Mexico came along with Mister Kobayashi from Japan and the second one was Ralph Oduber a student of Teunis Jan that has studied at Mister Kobayashi his school Shunka En in the past. While Teunis Jan was doing this Mister Kobayashi was already very busy at work lifting the heavy tree in all kinds of different angles like it weighed nothing and if he is not almost 70 years old and not just of the plane from a long flight from Japan…amazing!!! It was funny to see that Teunis had to call him to order to stop for a minute so that he could introduce him properly to us all! He received hearty applause from the Bonsai enthusiasts and then he was off again to what he does best while he was answering all kinds of questions and explaining what he was doing, he and his helpers tilted the tree in the desired position and secured it with wire to the turntable and then started to cut off all unnecessary foliage and branches.
Below: Because I was at the same time shooting a video I started to make photos when they were already a few minutes selecting the necessary branches and cutting off the unnecessary foliage and branches. And that was all done at an enormously fast tempo! If you just look at all the foliage on the floor at this point then you can clearly see just how far they already were when I shoot this first picture!
Below: more and more was cut off leaving only the necessary foliage.
Below: 70 years old?! I wish that I could sit on my knees like that and I am only 57 ?! 😁
Below: the assistant started to pluck needles and wiring while the master was cutting off even more foliage!
Below: wiring the branches and foliage. On the right, you can see a picture of how the tree looked just after Teunis Jan had bought it in China all those years ago.
Below: look how he amazingly is working with tree cutters in his right hand?! And still, managed to wire small branches??? But he has had a lot of practice doing Bonsai for 15 hours a day over the last 45 years! 🙂
Below: with every wire that is applied and branches that are positioned more and more beauty is revealed…like magic!!!
Below: the growth could not control their selves any longer when the whole top section was bent forward with the help of a special Bonsai tool! It was bent until some cracks appeared and then secured in place with some heavy copper wire.
Below: below is the amazing end result after some 3 hours of work. What an amazingly quick transformation into a very promising Bonsai! What a talented and skilful visionary this very sympathetic, humorous and modest master! It was so inspiring to watch his every move from so close by! Thanks for a very memorable evening mister Kobayashi and Teunis Jan Klein and all the volunteers that helped that night in DESHIMA BONSAI STUDIO for making this all possible for us all!
The 20-minute video of this whole stunning transformation is in the making and will be posted on my own youtube KARAMOTTO Bonsai channel in a few days’ time so watch this space!!!
I hope you enjoyed this for me special post about a unique Bonsai experience?!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
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First here is the link to Ryan Neal’s BONSAI MIRAI LIVE website where you can find lots of wonderful Bonsai related video’s! And HERE is the link to the amazing video about Winter Preparation on Ryan Neal’s Bonsai Mirai Live! Thanks Ryan for helping so many Bonsai enthusiasts around the world!
Promo: Early Spring and days are getting longer, the weather is warming – spring is a pivotal time to maximize your bonsai’s development. Use this video to learn what to prioritize and where you should be placing your efforts in the month of April. Join us as Ryan covers different reasons for pruning, whether or not to repot, and how to approach fertilization at this point in the season.
This is what I wrote on YouTube after seeing this amazingly helpful video late yesterday night.
Wow! I have watched this 2-hour video totally captivated in one go until 3 in the morning! It is by far the best educational video around because Ryan has a way of teaching, explaining and showing that makes it all logical, understandable and stick! I have always been a big fan of his work….but his teaching easily equals his artistry. I will post a link on to my blog so that even more students of Bonsai can find their way to this uniquely valuable source of Bonsai information. Thanks, Ryan and all who made this Video possible! I can’t wait for the next edition!
I know of no other video or book that covers all the basics of Spring Fundamentals like this 2-hour video from Ryan, so please do your self and your Bonsai a favour and watch it!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Hi, everybody,
I am proud to announce that I will be doing a demonstration again at this special edition of “THE JOY OF BONSAI “.
Make sure that you don’t miss this great event!
Hans van Meer.
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ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH BONSAI ARTISTS PRESENT, Hi Everyone, We do hope that you will be able to come along to the event. • There will be an increase of demonstrators from the usual 7 to a mind-blowing 11(note, not Sundays). • Space for up to 24 Traders offering everything imaginable for bonsai • Supporting exhibitions of Bonsai • Shohin • Bonsai Pots • Virtual Bonsai •Kusamono & Accent Plants • Bonsai • A full additional programme of associated Japanese activities such as Ikebana • Bushido • Tai-chi and many • Bath also has its wide variety of tourist attractions and shops • Excellent accommodation available to suit all pockets — check with: • There are four Park & Ride Services in Bath that operate from Monday to Saturday Sincerely, |
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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Hi, everybody,
Last weekend, I was invited to Italy, by my dear Bonsai friend, Enrico Savini. He had asked me to be the judge of the annual demonstrator’s competition during the XVII edition of the MOSTRA NAZIONALE BONSAI-SUISEKI “GIAREDA” event. And of course I sad yes!
Enrico Savini, Mauro Stemberger and Ivo Saporiti, were this year’s organizers of this important event and I think that they and the many volunteers that helped, did an amazing job!!!! This show proved once more, that the Italian Bonsai scene is very alive and full of New and old top talent! And the Bonsai….well some of them were breathtakingly beautiful!
Early on Thursday the 5Th, I made the short plane trip to Milan, were on arrival I was reunited with my old “BURRS” friend Ivo, in which house I was (A well-fed) guest. 😉
On the rest of that first day, we managed to visit “Picci Bonsai” and Nippon-en bonsai in Milan, before we had a nice meal and then it was off to bed!
Next day we had to get up really early to make it in time to the event! It was 2 hours long drive that caused a lot of yawning from all of us! But after I finally arrived at the venue…no, when I walked in the wonderful setting of this venue, I was impressed, very IMPREST and very awake! This was the most perfect setting I had yet seen!
During this weekend I saw some of the best bonsai that I had ever seen, that where showed in one of the most perfect places, that I had ever seen and literally in the middle of all that Bonsai Bliss, there were more than 10 of the best Professional Bonsai teachers in Italy demonstrating their talents on amazing and sometimes very difficult, but exciting material! And it did not stop there, because there were, even more, very talented Bonsai students from the “PROGETTO FUTURO” Bonsai school, were Enrico, Mauro and Ivo are teachers, working on amazing Yamadori. Together they all were demonstrating, with great result, on some unbelievable raw material! This was really a Bonsai spectacle that I wish every Bonsai nut could see! It was pure magic for me to be amongst all this talent, Bonsai beauty, superb material and friendliness! And I hope that the pictures that I post here can evoke some of that feeling with you!
* CLICK ON PICTURE (THUMBNAILS) TO ENLARGE!
Below pictures: Ivo Saporitti garden.
Below pictures: Picci Bonsai centre (Milan) Italy.
Pictures below: NIPPON-EN Bonsai centre (Milan) Italy.
Below pictures: Impressions of the venue and the Bonsai in the exhibition.
Pictures of the 2-day demonstration, performed by the talented students of the PROGETTO FUTURE BONSAI SCHOOL.
Below pictures: Demonstrations from the pro/teachers.
Demonstration by 1st place winner: Olivier Barreau (France)
Demonstration by 2nd place price winner: Zino Rongo. (Mirtus)
Demonstration by 3rd price winner: Roberto Raspanti. (Taxus baccata)
Demonstration by 4th place winner: Alfredo Salaccione. (Pinus sylvestris)
Demonstration by the 5th place winner: Samuel Corazza.
Demonstration by Francesco Santini.
Demonstration by: Antonio Conte.
Demonstration by: Nicola Crivelli.
Demonstration by:
Demonstration by:
Demonstration by: Donato Danisi.
Demonstration by:
Demonstration by: Armando Dal Col.
Demonstration by: Matteo Caldiero.
Demonstration by: Renzo Pooli.
Demonstration by: Paola Nastasi.
I hope you enjoyed it? If you have some nice pictures of the end result of the teacher’s demo’s, please email them to me! And please email me the missing names of the people in the demo pictures?! As you can see I don’t have all of them complete! karamotto@hotmail.com thank you!
Cheer,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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Hi, everybody,
on 7 and 8 June, the annual meeting of the Danish Bonsai Association was held in Aalborg, in Northern Jutland (Denmark). I was invited to do a demonstration on the Saturday and a workshop on Sunday. After just a short flight, I arrived early in the afternoon on the Friday before the event, in Copenhagen airport. I was picked up by my Bonsai friend Klaus Buddig and together we started the 5 hour trip to the North of Denmark. Which included a 45-minute catamaran ferry crossing to Jutland. This boat trip was anticipated by me with some horror because I get seasick even writing about it! But I have to admit it was a lot of fun to race across the water on this bed out of hell! And I have to be honest: there is not much that 2 cold beer cant fix!
Above picture: me on the back of this large speedboat (the things I have to go through for this hobby).
Above picture: Klaus Buddig relaxing on the back of the boat.
Above picture: Those mighty twin turbines, created a water spray over 30 meters long, leaving a foam trail that can be seen from an aeroplane!
After a long but pleasant drive, during which, many bonsai talks was spoken, we arrived in Aalborg, one of the main cities in Northern Jutland. The TOMTOM brought us safely to the “Huset” (which means “The House” ) where this event would take place. My dear friend Morten Albek showed use were to park behind the large old building and after we sad our Halloo’s, he let us through a big old gate into a big courtyard like square, that was completely surrounded by this beautiful ocker coloured square shaped building. We arrived right around dinner time and the smell of the barbecue that was going on made my mouth water, but first a beer! There was a large stage were musicians were setting up their instruments for the show that would start in a few hours and in front of that stage, scattered around the square, local people were having a nice dinner, sitting under old Linden trees, that were planted in a circle (like a doughnut). These stunning trees provided some picturesque shades in the setting sunlight and having your dinner under need them observing the atmosphere of the place while listening to some light Jazz and Blues was a real treat for me! It proved to be a great start to a great weekend.
The “Huset” picturesque inner courtyard seen from above. I shoot this picture from a second-floor window where the Shohin exhibition was staged.
Above: picture: The local folks enjoying a lovely dinner, while waiting for the band to start playing.
Above picture: How nice it that on a warm summers night?!
Above: Both pictures above where shoot by me from the Aalborg camping were we stayed, not a bad place either!
After the dinner and some light refreshments, we only had to drive a couple of minutes to reach the “Aalborg Camping” where we all would stay during this weekend. After we enjoyed some more refreshments while sitting outside in the still setting sun, we all went to bed very tired. Next day, it was early out of bed to enjoy a lovely breakfast and then it was off to the “Huset” to start the show!
Above picture: Just before the doors for the public were opened, Ljunberg a very lovely and talented new potter preparing here first ever display area.
Above picture: An equally lovely friend dressed in a traditional local dress who helped here during the weekend.
Above picture: This is the tent where the new talent competition was held. It was next to the tent where I was giving mine demonstrating, so every now and then I could catch a glimpse of all those eager, enthusiastic and nervous bonsai lovers at work. This made me smile and it worked very inspiringly for me.
The new talent contest winner was a very new talent, Julie Isager from Keyaki Bonsai Club in Copenhagen. Julie is 26 years old and started to practice bonsai only six months ago. She is a student of my friend Klaus Buddig. The second place was taken by Finn Christensen from the bonsai club Kita in Aalborg. (No third places was chosen, only first and second).
* Above picture: Here I am posing with Klaus Buddig in front of his Yamadori Pinus Sylvestris he so kindly entrusted to me to demonstrate on. In the middle, you can see the design I made for this future Bonsai.
Above picture: The design I made for this old pine.
Above picture: Explaining my plans for this tree to the audience.
*Picture above: I like demonstrations, like this one, where the audience can walk right up to me and ask me questions and see hands on what I am doing. You can see here than the cascading branch is all ready brought down the trunk. The future top section is here still reaching for the sky.
*Above picture: Concentrated and hot at work.
*Above picture: It is always nice to have an extra pair of hands! Erling Klysner did a great job helping me wiring the top and bending it into place. So we could all go to dinner in time!
*Above picture: Working on the future top.
*Right picture: The finished pre-bonsai for now. The cascading branch needs a sharper bend to the right, just where it appears from behind the main trunk! But because this is it first styling and the branch had come such a long way from where it was originally before all the works started, that this will be don in the future, when the tree is fully recovered from all this stress! The tree’s health should always come first, even in demonstrations!
* Above picture: And then there was Coffey!
On Saturday I had the hard task of judging the bonsai on display in the show. And during the dinner, I was invited on stage to present the award and give some comments to all the winners. I myself was honoured with some lovely words and a bottle of some of the best Cognac I ever sipped (half empty already)! They all sure made me feel very much at home here, really special people indeed!
Above picture: During a break in the gala dinner on Saturday night, a proud Morten Albek received the first prize award for the best Shohin composition in the exhibition.
Winner of the best bonsai in the exhibition was won by Martin Nielsen with a beautiful Juniperus Chinensis.
Below: I had a couple of hours to kill Before the Sunday workshops would begin. So Lona Rasmussen asked me if I would style one off here Yamadori Pinus Sylvestris, she brought along for her own first demo, that she would give that afternoon. So while everybody was busy for a few hours at the annual club meeting on the other side of the venue, I had some nice quiet bonsai time on my own, while working on her little tree in the morning sun with some coffee.
Below: Lone’s Pinus Sylvestris before work began.
Below: Wired and ready to style.
Below: The finished sweat little Literati Pine.
Below: Me and happy Lona Rasmussen with here Pine.
*Picture above: The tent where the Sunday workshop was held.
*Above picture: Here I am working together with Julie Isager on here Yew, she is the winner of the new talent competition. I am sure she has a bright Bonsai future ahead of her!
*Above picture: Aase Wiberg working on here big garden Juniper.
*Above picture: Helping with some final wiring.
Above picture: Peter Landerloos working concentrated on his Yamadori Pine.
*Above 2 pictures: During this Sunday workshop, Klaus Buddig enjoyed himself very much working on the deadwood of his Pine, that I had worked on during my Saturday demo! And I liked to add: he did a really beautiful job!
Then before we all knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes already! I had a great time and made a lot of new friends and was thrilled to spend this long weekend with some old friends! I am sure that this was not the last time I visit beautiful Denmark to do bonsai! Infect: I have already been asked by Morten to do a show he is staging next year!
After the 5 hours long trip to Klaus his great house, I had a good night rest in his famous Bonsai guest room, where many well-known artists have spent the night before me! On Monday we had a wonderfully relaxed day in his garden, enjoying the Sun and each others company, just a brilliant day to finish my wonderful visit to Denmark!
Above picture: For our dinner, Klaus took me to a posh and very exclusive sailboat club in Copenhagen. The view there, overlooking the Sea was really stunning, and the food and cold beer were not too bad either!
Above picture: A beautiful Acer buergerianum raft in Klaus his garden.
Above picture: In Klaus his large garden, I had a great time playing with young “Sheva” a rare Bergen Pichard lady dog….YO SHEVA behave !! I said LADY DOG!!!
Above picture: That’s much better! Isn’t she pretty!
Then it was off to the airport to fly home, another wonderful Bonsai memory came to an end, up to the next one!
Here are the links to the site of the Danish Bonsai association where you can see more pictures of this unique event, my demo and workshop.
http://www.bonsai-danmark.dk/BILLEDERDBS-2008-demo.htm
http://www.bonsai-danmark.dk/BILLEDERDBS-2008.htm
*Pictures with a star by Morten Albek.
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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Hi, everybody,
I can clearly remember the day that Danny User asked me to demonstrate at his 2007 “Ginkgo award”! He called me (which he never those) at work and asked if I had something to do in September of next year? And if not, would I like to demonstrate at his next and last “Ginkgo awards”? He knocked me right off my feed and I accepted with a full-hearted YES!!! The “Ginkgo award” holds a special place in my heart and to demonstrate there is and was a dream come true for me, so I could not be any happier!
Two days before the event I drove to Danny and Ingrid Bonsai Centre “Ginkgo” in Belgium to bring in my 4 bonsai that were selected for the show, and to find a suitable tree for me to demonstrate on among the literary many hundreds of raw materials that you can find there. After I brought my Bonsai to where they were photographed for the commemorative “best Bonsai in Europe” book, I headed outside to look among the many hundreds of trees to find an inspiring tree. But even with this many choices, finding a tree among the many that Danny has in his enormous place is not as easy as it might seem! I searched for the right tree as if I was buying it for my own collection. The tree had to appeal to my taste in Bonsai and tickle my imagination at the same time. My demonstration trees always reflect where I’m at that moment in Bonsai and it must always end up looking the same as when I had styled it in my own garden as a future Bonsai for my private collection! A big part of my Bonsai collection today, still consists of my former demo trees. After a long search, I ended up with two possible candidates! Both Yamadori “Yews” are from Japan. One with a lot of fantastic deadwood to work on with heavy machines, but almost now foliage to work with. And one with a lot of problems to solve, but enough foliage to work with. They both had a good possibility to demonstrate and to become a good pre-Bonsai that reflected my approach, taste and style. Because working on the first tree mend, I had to be doing wood carving for most of the two-day demonstration, making a lot of noise with my power tools, and bothering the other demonstrators and the stand workers that were all in the same big greenhouse with me! So I chose the second tree, it was more challenging for me anyway, with a lot more nice Yamadori problems to solve or incorporate into the design that I envisioned when I first looked at this lovely tree. The tree gave me lots of good Bonsai vibes!
Picture 1: shows the chosen front of the tree.
Picture 2: shows me when I just discovered my demo tree.
Picture 3: shows the very hot demonstration airier. Some big names with on the far right, U can just see William “Bill” Valavanis from the USA, next to him Udu Fisher from Germany, next to him Sandro Signeri from Italy and I’m the one on the left and I’m from Holland.
Picture 4,5,6: The start of my demo, Here I am cleaning and plucking the branches to prepare them for wiring.
Picture 7: here you can see me removing the too-long and too-highly-placed top branches. Leaving some stumps that might be useful later, when I start working on the deadwood design!
Picture 8: Here I am looking where the all-important live lines of the tree are running. I do this with a small sharp chisel, peeling away the bark until I reach the live parts. In this case that was quite difficult to determent, because of the little difference in colour between the life and the dead part. So needless to say: I had to be very careful.
Picture 9: After I was really sure where it was safe to work, I could start working freely, without any fear for the health of the tree in the back of my mind. All I just had to do, was stay between the lines! I worked with both power tools and hand tools to first remove all the rotted wood and other unwanted parts. Then I just started to free flow, taking bits away, discovering a point of interest or beauty, a Little creating or revealing. But always working very carefully, following the grain of the wood. Gradually I worked towards the point where smaller bits were necessary on my power tool, to create, or reveal more detail in the deadwood. It is advisable to always wear Eye protection and always use a mask! The dust from working on a Yew with power tools is irritating to your eyes and can give you bad chest pain and cough for days! BELIEVE ME!!! I know what I’m talking about! (ugh ugh) :).
Picture 10, 11,12: My good old friend William van Vlaandre (inventor of the “SAMURAI” power tool bit), gave me one of his specially made power tools, loaded with his biggest “Samurai”, to use on the bigger parts of deadwood at the top of the tree. And it went like a warm knife through butter! Amazing you could make a small canoe out of a big tree in half an hour with this monster! Even the otherwise almost unworkable fresh and therefore wet wood, was no problem! It left a smooth surface! And with some care it was even possible to create more subtle details as well, it worked great! Only both my arms would disagree with these statements, they looked like I had been carrying 3 hedgehogs on fire! LOL! 😬😊
Picture 13: More detailed carving on the top “JIN”.
Picture 14: View of the demonstrating area.
Picture 15: The three top branches that would make up the whole top part of the tree, we’re way too thick to be bent with just wire! So they first had to be protected with tight applied layers of in water-soaked Raffia. Then 4 strings of copper wire were placed lengthwise along the part of the branch that needed to be bent. Then another layer of wet Raffia was applied and then some more normal wiring with thick copper wire on top of that layer. Now I was sure that I could bend the branches with minimal risk of harming the tree. It would only need great force!
Picture 16, 17, 18: Now I could safely start, to gradually bend the very tough branches into their desired positions. Taking my time, piece by piece, until I could secure them with the help of some thin copper wire attached to a couple of Jins and one small screw.
Picture 19: After a wild long night playing snooker (pool) with my Bonsai friends and only 4 hours of sleep, I started with the detail wiring of the tree. Trying to keep in pace with the marching band in my head!🥴
Picture 20: Finally the real fun part of styling a tree hat arrived. When I am bringing all the branches into position, I am totally in the zone, I love it, it is magical to almost paint with foliage until I feel it looks good. Trying to create something I like and find beautiful in Bonsai, within the boundaries of what each tree has to offer to me, is always a wonderful experience. To do it on this stage with this valuable material Danny entrusted me with, made it even more elevating and meaningful to me!
Picture 21: Close-up of the basic first deadwood on the back part of the tree and the branches.
Picture 19, 20: Some last detail works on the deadwood using a very hard plastic brush, that left a grain-like texture on the still soft fresh part on the top.
Picture 21: YES! I finished and was drained, but happy with the result and the beer that was waiting on the other side of the camera!
Picture 22: The final result. I hope you liked this little demo story and the final image of this pre-bonsai? It was, as I said before, a great honour to do! Especially because this was the last “Ginkgo award”! It was a very happy and a bit melancholic experience!
My “Ginkgo Award 2007” demonstration tree.
A “Taxus cuspidata“ Yamadori from Japan.
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 