Just back from the L.A. Arboretum... another amazing show hosted by Baikoen (Bonsai Kenkyokai, est. 1964).

Kay Komai (on the left) has been there for the whole journey. The history of this club is fabulous - for another post. Dave Woodall is on the right.


My two favorite exhibits were created by Cheryl Manning (left) and Elliot Farkas (right).


Cheryl's Ume.


Flowers opening on the Ume.


Elliot's Twisted Pomegranate.


Accent shown with the Pomegranate.

...given the title of this post, if you didn't expect to see trees with no clothes, er, I mean leaves on, what did you think trees wear to sleep in, yesterday's leaves perhaps? not when brand new fresh leaves are right around the corner.

Just Kidding! I didn't forget about you all, even through it has been soooooo LONG.

It's New Year's Eve and I have big plans for 2012 starting to fall into place: The Shohin convention in Santa Nella is a month away, then there is the California Bonsai Society's 55th Convention in Anaheim in April, then June will be the biggest frenzy heading to the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, NY, then rounding back to the BCI 50th Anniversary Event in Denver, Bonsai in the Rockies, (almost a homecoming since I grew up in Denver and Colorado Springs,) then September in Portland, then GSBF, and I'm already getting excited for the 2013, April 19th BCI Convention in Yangzhou, China (我学习汉语很多!）。

I have not been idle the last year, even though I've neglected to post. Photos of my bonsai trees will be added to this site regularly next year, since I've been working so diligently on them I really want to share them. I also finally learned how to shoot and edit quickly decent videos with my little Sony HD camera, so expanding my Youtube Channel will be a fun activity for next year. Bjorvala bonsai studio has set the bar very high in quality bonsai offerings the last few months.

I've been playing mad scientist in my lab, I mean studio, and reorganizing things to be more productive in making many pots in larger quantities and sizes. I'm still making a few occasional pinch pots, but not very often. I'm switching to slab-building and other methods to meet the goals mentioned above of larger output. I have a dedicated e-commerce site in the works, but more on that later ;o).

I recently had a lot of fun conducting a well attended workshop on all things pinch pot for the Bonsai & Beyond Club that meets at the San Diego Botanical Gardens once a month:

And my little ball of fur known as Kibou is all grown up, at least in dog years:





Wishing you a Safe and Happy New Year's Eve.... SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

I know it's been eons since I posted anything on this blog... I'm redesigning my mental workspace, doing some internal remodeling, and generally gearing up to head in a new direction. Artistic journeys, take just as much planning as physical trips, and without the help of Expedia. I've also been very distracted the last 3 months while learning Mandarin Chinese, and with my latest fury project:


Xie Xie pengyoumen, Zaijian. ;o)

Help is abundant this year around every corner:

My heart goes out to everyone shoveling snow this month, here are a few sunny accents to remind you Spring is on its way...

Click on the New Year Greeting below to see the video on YouTube:

Wishing You
Peace & Happiness
in 2011

I hope this posting finds everyone well, safe, and hopeful for the new year of possibilities just around the corner.



Here is an excerpt from the Prologue of the book I have been working on for the past year, BONSAI TEN, which will be available in the Summer of 2011:

"Bonsai is a direct and personal study of life. It appeals to our fascination with what is immeasurably small and inconceivable large. Through the art of bonsai, a connection is made between artist and tree, an individual and eternal nature, the infinite mind and the persistent voice of our interconnected souls. Bonsai is a small but powerful illustration and visual embodiment of many things including ecosystems, natural processes, energy exchange and work, dedication, applied knowledge, perseverance, humility, kindness, selflessness, compassion, and appreciation. Bonsai contributes to the goal of sustainable peace.

"Learning to decipher and listen to these instructions, messages, and insights through the art and practice of bonsai has been a deeply spiritual experience for me and I want to share it with you. Bonsai gave me an education. When I entered this strange and mysterious artistic phenomena I was unaware of all the rules, the history, the tradition, the undercurrents, the methods, the science, the philosophy… it became a life-seeking quest for answers. It is a fascinating journey and the purpose of this book is to ‘bring back to the tribe’ (The Writer’s Journey) some of the answers that I have found that seem to me to resound with truth.

"Ten years ago I was living in a second floor, north facing condominium near the ocean. The unit had a small balcony. After visiting a botanical garden I fell in love with a grove of ancient Gingko Trees and wondered how I could capture that moment of calm and euphoria that I felt surrounded by those majestic trees, without access to land or a garden with sufficient space to plant my own. The local nursery had a small gingko seedling with maybe 7 or 8 leaves on it planted in a bonsai pot that I immediately brought home and tried to grow… that’s how innocently it all starts. You, my dear reader, have been warned.

"Bonsai changed my life. I made every possible mistake. I read every available book. I talked to every possible ‘expert’. I suggested to my husband that I could be more successful if we just had a real yard, and if I went to Japan to study bonsai I might figure out all the little things that seemed to elude me (both of which he agreed to). In the years that followed I stumbled into a natural process of learning and subsequently learned a way to live my life through answers I would not have come to know otherwise. For example, time cannot be made to speed up so the tree will grow faster. Patience. Time passes quickly enough. Time cannot be made to slow down so the tree will die slower. Acceptance. Making a long term commitment and then sticking with it was a sound lesson for me to learn. Bonsai is a microcosmic textbook to the universe, and offers encouragement for the possibilities for the future. It illustrates that learning is a lifelong enrollment. The teacher is the student, the student is also the teacher. Equilibrium. Balance..."

I have just posted a bunch of photos on my facebook page of the Not so New faces that were strolling around the recent GSBF Convention in Santa Clara, and a couple of New ones...

Now that I am finally on facebook (about 3 years later than everybody else, but maybe just fashionably late :o)... please find me and send me a friend request because who doesn't want to have lots of friends, and I love seeing what everyone else is doing. It's so much fun to 'meet' other bonsai fans! (Although facebook is a great way to lose an entire afternoon that should be spent doing something productive, I have found. When will the site post a warning label that it may be hazardous to your occupation?)

Here is a picture of my Vendor Table: (some of the pots may look familiar)


It was a really great Convention, and it was so good to see so many friends together in the same place. I received wonderful feedback on those new pots. I think I'm going in a direction that is worth pursuing. Back to the studio...

(A 'behind the scenes' look at this photo shoot...)

To see some of the pots made in 2008, click here or on the image below.



 -- a few from 2007... click here or the image below.

-- a few pots made earlier this year:


(These are now in the collections of Shirley Kavanaugh, Jim Doyle, and other bonsai artists who attended the 2010 Shohin Convention.)

All of these pots are one of a kind, originals - made, photographed, and published here by Michelle Dougherty. Please do not "borrow," "copy," or "steal" any images without first requesting permission from the artist : michelle@bunjinjournal.com

I'm not usually an advocate of shortcuts or 'instant' anything, but this is just too fun not to share. A wonderful group of folks get together every month and trade ideas about making tray landscapes - everything from Hon Non Bo, Saikei, Succulent Art, trough gardens, topiary, anything that grows in a pot or represents a living landscape. At the last meeting a talented artist, Nancy Reisman, brought to everyone's attention her recent discovery - Home Depot is selling 4" pots of Meyer's Asparagus Fern (Asparagus meyeri) for $3.47 and when trimmed and incorporated next to a rock or landscape feature they look for all the world like Italian Cypress, with no additional work and coming in at about 3 - 6" tall in little groupings, the similarity is uncanny... so I raced over to HD and bought a few...

Before:

After about 20 minutes:

---

Embarrassingly I will admit I'm still putting together that promised posting of more of Jim Mueller's work, but in the meantime he sent me a most inspiring photo:



I asked him for more information about how he did this and he responded:

"As you might imagine, the process of creating the mountain compositions for my tray landscapes generates a fair amount of stone fragments. In the spirit of resource conservation, I've tried using them to build cairns like this one. The larger stones are held together with hydraulic cement, and smaller ones with silicone aquarium sealant. Happily, the resulting compositions have lots of cracks and internal voids that act as sounding chambers for the falling water. With a little tuning, they can be very musical instruments.To stabilize the stones and maintain the composition while transporting,cleaning, and repotting, I often glue them to a deep blue or green Corian base (salvaged from a neighbor's kitchen countertop business) shaped to fit the bottom of the container.

"I make my cranes with very long legs, so that they can be set deeply into soil, moss, or holes drilled in the rock, as the one in the photo. I was as pleased as you with the effect of this photo. It was taken last Friday at sunrise over Seneca Lake, the largest of the finger lakes in upstate New York. As you can see, it's an inspiring place. I've gathered mosses there,along with lots of ideas for sculptures like this one."

Thanks so much Jim! Here's a preview of that next installment...


And finally, an apology to the email subscribers - the last email was very confusing because the new video was not part of the email, and I made it worse by putting a link to the old video, so please click here to see the New Video (Saikei Made Easy) - Thank you for understanding.

"How To" Video : Number 2 - you may remember my charming first attempt on the making of a pinch pot filmed with the camera that came with this laptop. So here is another 'single take' tutorial, but I've since discovered Windows Movie Maker to add a few effects, an opening page, and some closing credits. My husband also found himself cajoled into providing the voice talent for very little compensation, but ample credit (I drew the line at a Producer credit). Hope you enjoy...



In addition to my very patient husband I would also like to thank my dear friends who suggested a rock collecting trip out to the desert this past weekend, without whom this video would not have been possible (well, not with these rocks, anyway). The Yuha Desert was a sweltering triple digit expanse of undiscovered treasure for we intrepid explorers, thank goodness there was enough food to last until Spring, should we have become stranded.





Here is the transcript from the video: " How to Create a Simple Moss Landscape - Begin by assembling the materials. Today we will use : a turntable, a round black tray, a few rocks, course sand, green moss, and a squirt bottle to keep the moss moist.

"Once everything is on hand try various combinations and arrangements until you find something that appeals to you aesthetically. These rocks were collected in the California desert, but rocks can also be purchased from building supply yards by the pound.

"If necessary add some sand to stabilize the stone, so it rests solidly in the tray. Next position the moss around the stone. It can represent the vegetation of an island or land feature, or simply be part of the composition. Carefully notice the area where the moss surrounds the stone. The idea is to make it appear as though the moss has grown over time, so it is best not to leave any gaps.

"Once the scene is starting to take shape fill in the rest of the tray with iether sand, or use soil if you want to encourage the moss to spread faster to fill in the whole tray. Work out the air gaps with either a chop stick or your fingers. Moss usually requires very good drainage but because this tray is so shallow it does not require drainage holes, the water will simply evaporate. Moss grows best in moist, shady, humid area where it is sheltered from wind and sun. Keep the moss damp, but never soggy or saturated. Moss can be collected from parking lots, sidewalks, or other public areas. An old credit card is perfect for slicing off just the moss and a thin layer of soil beneath it to keep it in clumps, as moss does not send down roots. Moss can also be allowed to dry and then sprinkled over moist soil. After a few months of ideal conditions a thick green carpet will grow.

"Keep the completed landscape moist by misting several times a day. Very diluted amounts of fertilizer from time to time will help keep it healthy. Moss will also appreciate the starchy water used to rinse rice. Even with perfect care the landscape may crisp up and turn brown. Enjoy it while it lasts, nothing lasts forever."

Wikipedia is rapidly making bloggers everywhere insecure in their ability to compose original content, as it covers virtually EVERYTHING... I started typing about how jade makes great indoor bonsai and then thought I would just do a quick Google search on the topic to see what else has been written along the same lines, of course, Wikipedia did not let me down:

"Commonly known as jade plant, friendship tree, lucky plant or Money Plant, Crassula ovata is a succulent plant with small pink or white flowers. It is native to South Africa, and is common as a houseplant worldwide.

Jades are evergreen plants with thick branches and smooth, rounded,fleshy leaves that grow in opposing pairs along the branches. Leaves area rich jade green; some varieties may develop a red tinge on the edges of leaves when exposed to high levels of sunlight. New stem growth is the same color and texture as the leaves, but becomes brown and woody with age. Under the right conditions, they may produce small white or pink star-like flowers in early spring.

The jade plant lends itself easily to the bonsai form and is popular as an indoor bonsai."

So that's the basics. I will add that in my experience Jade is virtually indestructible, refuses to die even weeks (or months) after having been tossed in the trash. It will grow in any light conditions, in almost any soil, with almost any watering schedule except perpetually soggy soil. It can be carved, chopped to the ground, propagated from a single leaf, and really prefers a degree of neglect.

Jade bonsai plants make great gifts. I gave the tree below to a friend last week...

I would encourage everyone to make jade bonsai and give them away to friends. Later in the week I received an actual card in the mail (real mail, with paper, and a stamp, and an envelope and everything) with a raised tree insignia on the front and the following Eleanor Roosevelt quote printed:

I have carried that card around in my purse with me ever since.

Many thanks to Elliot Farkas for sharing this photo of his very nice portulacaria jade bonsai and for contributing feedback on this posting.