Philippine Bonsai

Hi IBC.
Trees I made While in IBC dormancy. for sharing couple of images.


Blue bell/Desmodium



Philippine Holly



Pithecellobium dulce/ camachile. fruit bearing


Casuarina equisetifolia





regards,
jun

Over the top creations!!!

Just the way I like it. Very impressive!!
I've always been intrigued by these Casuarinas'........

But they ain't growing up here, brother!!
Great stuff and thanks for sharing!

Jun, you have been busy, great to have you back.
Those are great creations, I really like the Desmodium. Well done and very aged looking. All are great, the P. dulce & Casurina are great too. All are good.

I really like your style, and these trees show an evolution. Nice mature looking trees.

Very fine indeed,jun. Could you tell us the species group on your last photo?

LanceMac10 wrote:I've always been intrigued by these Casuarinas'....But they ain't growing up here, brother!!

i scored a little one from meehans miniatures this past summer...
it looks just like jun's (except for the height, width, weight, trunk and foliage)

i really dig this one:

Pithecellobium dulce/ camachile. fruit bearing


love the pot too... i have been doing that for a while now with pots that are chipped, cracked or are less than great...
just beat 'em up more !!!

Thanks guys!

regards,
jun

geo wrote:Very fine indeed,jun. Could you tell us the species group on your last photo?

Thanks Geo.

We haven't ID the latin name for that species. I grows only in some areas of the Phil. We used to call this "Murraya exotica". but, certainly it doesn't belong to the Murraya family.

regards,
jun

L.L.B,

Amazing!!!!


Good to see the Cat's Claw [ pithecellobium d ]
Those trees are huge.
Thanks for showing.
Khaimraj

Nice!
I like your style, Jun.
I enjoy your experimentation with pots, too.

Hello Jun - Great to see your work posted here again! Welcome back.

Great to see your wonderful work here Jun!

milly.a wrote:Great to see your wonderful work here Jun!

Thanks Milly!

Arthur Joura wrote:Hello Jun - Great to see your work posted here again! Welcome back.

Thank you Arthur.

regards,
jun.


Thank you too Nellie! Hope to see you soon again, in some convention somewhere.

regards,
jun

Dear Jun, please allow me to make a correction...

jun wrote:... ...Thank you too Nellie! Hope to see you soon again, in some convention somewhere... ...

I'm afraid you are referring to Neli Stoyanova from Zambia.
I am Alexandra/my nellie from Athens, Greece and we haven't met -unfortunately-

Hey Jun,
I have a question about a classic bonsai question: deadwood on broad-leafed trees. Among novice bonsai enthusiasts, deadwood can get a little out of control: one sees the beauty of it on a conifer and is tempted to try to recreate that effect on a broad-leafed tree. Unfortunately, that attempt occasionally falls on a tree for which that sort of feature is horticulturally inconsistent. I personally have great respect for artists that really embrace the tendency for most broad-leafed deadwood to rot, and create real beauty with it (think Robert Stevens and his extreme casuarinia). I get the same feeling when I look at your literati pithecellobium. You've created the same kind of drama you would get from a long shari on a literati pine, using a hollow instead. I love it! Then I noticed the jin sticking out the top, and I thought it was odd, the mix of uro and jin. So I skimmed through the rest of the images and noticed other trees in which you have a mix of hollows and jin, neither of which are subtle, but seem to be bold expressions of each. So I was hoping to get your opinion on your use of both hollows and jin, and when you choose to use either or even both.
Thanks,
Graeme

Great stuff Jun!!!! Nice to have you back.

Todd

my nellie wrote:Dear Jun, please allow me to make a correction...

jun wrote:... ...Thank you too Nellie! Hope to see you soon again, in some convention somewhere... ...

I'm afraid you are referring to Neli Stoyanova from Zambia.
I am Alexandra/my nellie from Athens, Greece  and we haven't met -unfortunately-  

I am very very sorry my dearest lady friend. my apology. I am still a bit rusty here in IBC. I was confused with you and her alright.
I hope everything is Ok now in your country.

regards,
jun

DreadyKGB wrote:Great stuff Jun!!!! Nice to have you back.

Todd

Thanks Todd!

Nice to hear from you again too.

regards,
jun

Hi Graeme,

I hope I get your query right.


"hollows" and "jins", "Jins" only, "hollows" only. For me or other artists like Robert (maybe), We follow simple "guides" in bonsai- Aesthetic and balance, The "drama" that catches emotions to be projected onto the piece, and horticulture hints or story of the trees that we tried to encapsulate in our works. If either or both the jin and uro
needs to be there as enhancement to the design we just put it there.
...and they don't contradict each other. Examples are the Phempis acidula or casuarina. The hollows of the trunks could happen very early on in the trees life. The reason for this hollowing of trunk could vary depending on the trauma that the tree got. Maybe, a huge branch died out in this part of the trunk, then if that is the event most likely the branch will dry out and turns into "jins", but later on it will rot away or broke off, causing a hollowed trunk. Then, the same process could also happen in that very same tree somewhere in the upper portion of the trunk, now we have both the hollowed trunk and a jin. We are not saying that the dead branch will stay there forever. It is a very good story to capture,,, that moment represented  in bonsai where both the hollows and dead branch are both present. From this example we can express the emotion that we wanted, then maybe we can have a bonsai that have a "soul". not templated in design, instead unique in its own way based on the artists perception of the event in the story of the tree.    

P.S.
We have a lot of tropical hard wood( not deciduous )trees, that creates very good and hardy dead wood in nature.Among them are, Phempis acidula, Casuarina, Vitex, Gliricidia sepium, and many more.  

I hope I answered your question clearly.

regards,
jun

Another visual example Graeme.



....When I got the tree, It got some dead branch on it and some holes already existing in the raw material. this is a good hint on what the tree had been thru in its it life in the wild. Me as a bonsai artist just follow the lead that the tree tried to imply to us. then enhance the image of tree that is trying to form new branches and canopy, then I just enhance the former story of the tree from the wild...

the same with this tree below.





regards,
jun

Absolutely. The semi cascade above is such a perfect example of both features on the same tree, and they make perfect horticultural sense. You can so easily imagine the jin being preserved, sheltered under the canopy, protected from the wind and rain and sun, in contrast to the uro on the trunk, older and exposed and rotted away. Really sublime image. And it actually leads me into another question, and also something that Mr. Stevens has discussed, this idea of horticultural clues that indicate something that's happened "recently." Robert talks about this concept of a "post-transformational" image in bonsai, this idea that the tree has experienced some event in time that has altered its appearance, and the tree has had to respond, and that a good bonsai is an image of the tree well after that response. In this way the tree maintains a sort of timelessness. For example, the jin in the semi cascade must be "more recent" than the uro, but because the overall image is so balanced and mature, and because the horticultural clues are so consistent, we really can't tell how long ago it happened. 50 years? 150 years? 250 years? And so the bonsai has that feeling of timelessness. Contrast that with the the original trees you posted. They have jin that are exposed, extending out into the elements. And we know from the uro on their trunks that these jin will ultimately rot away. This pulls the trees into the now. Our timeline is more like 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. It makes the tree seem more dynamic, and tenuous even. Good or bad, it's a markedly different feel from the semi cascade. What are you thoughts on that? Am i making sense or just talking out of my ass?

Again this is not a "rule" nor a definite guide.

Uro and jin doesn't have to appear of different age. Dead branch or rotten outer portion of the trunk could be of the same age. like for example the root system of the particular side of the tree died out and the upper branches of the tree were affected and also died out. Maybe one of the portion of the tree, the dead branch or maybe the rotten portion of the trunk more exposed to the element could fall off first before the other.
The tree on the rock in the first picture is called a blue bell, when I got the raw material the jins and the hollow trunk is already there, I just reduced the size and volume of the naturally "jinned" branch. This is the perfect example to answer your question, because this particular tree had the same perfect experienced in the wild of what I am trying to explain.
We are here as an artist to enhance this event in the trees life. that' is what we "naturalist designer" are trying achieve, and it is not that easy as others might think otherwise, making the tree into a regular bonsai.
So, for me when I saw this raw material, I tried to imagine what condition this tree had in the wild, what natural elements affected this tree, what struggle this tree had been through... then finally I imagined this tree to be in a rocky mountain, maybe by the sea side, in a cliff exposed to the harsh environment. Then I tried to recreate this event that I perceived. Grow the tree in a pot as regular bonsai for years, Next is to look for a harsh looking rock to match this image I wanted, make the raw material look small enough to fit the scale, added some moss here and there. Then I got the drama I have in my mind.

regards,

Thanks for taking the time for such a thorough response. Good to have you back.