2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 63,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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A New Pot From Japan

This is a new Japanese shohin pot that I acquired recently. It’s an oribe glazed oval, 6 1/2 inches wide by Eimei at the Yozan Kiln. I am becoming a big fan of this potter’s work. The quality and style of his colourfully glazed pots are truly amazing.

The stamps on the base are for Yozan Kiln, Eimei and Yorozu en (they commissioned the pot)

3 More Larches Re-Wired

I managed to get a few more of my larches re-wired today.

This is how the first one looked before today’s work.

And this is how it looks at the moment, it’s beginning to form quite a pleasing image.

This is a reminder of how it looked in 2012

The next 2 shohin sized trees were started at the beginning of this year. This is how they look at the moment after their second wiring

And this is a reminder of how they looked at the beginning of the year.

Another Larch Re-Wired

Amid frantic last minute preparations for the Christmas holidays I have managed to complete a full re-wiring of another one of my larches.

This is how it looked before the current work

And this is how it looks at the moment. This is the first bonsai tree that I purchased back in 2000 and for that reason it will always be a favourite of mine. It also has a great nebari and good taper.

First of My Larches Re-Wired

It’s taken me a little longer than expected to get started on the seasonal maintenance and re-wiring of my larches due to poor weather, but today, during a dry spell I managed to get the first one completed. Collected in 2012, this is its third full wiring.

Before todays work

After todays work

 

Larch Winter Maintenance Begins

Now that all of my Larches have dropped their needles, its time to begin the annual wiring and styling marathon. I have quite a lot of these to do and it really does feel like an endurance test sometimes but it has to be done. Here are a few that I will be working on in the coming weeks.

I have been working on this first group for several years and some of them are now looking pretty good.

This group are newer projects and still have a way to go.

This one was a three foot high completed bonsai that I wasn’t very fond of. It was chopped back to a single branch at the start of this year in order to start again.

I will post more pictures of these trees as the maintenance and wiring is completed.

Lanarkshire Bonsai Club Xmas Get Together

What do you do at the club when the weather is foul and the trees are all safely housed in their winter quarters. Well this being Scotland we bring out the Malt and have it with curry.

I am sure all the club members would like to join me in thanking Dougie  Smith and his wife Lil for their hospitality throughout the year. Dougie has an international reputation for the quality of his trees but not many people know that he is also a terrific guitar player. Check out this performance of Focus’ Sylvia by Dougie and his band at a recent charity event on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkzz8MdRkIc