Guy Guidry carving away

Here is Guy Guidry carving away at a Campeche. Guy was the headliner for the Bonsai Society of Miami 24th Annual Show and Sale. Amazing artist and human being. It is so inspiring to see someone that has been creating bonsai for over 28 years and still has passion for the art. The material was outstanding and the icing was working them with Guy for over four hours.

I'd love to see the finished product.

Outstanding material? Really?

It was two years ago I went down to visit Guy when he was selling his nursery and homestead. It's good to see him still at it and as active as ever. quite the artist and quite the character!

carlos wrote:Outstanding material? Really?

Hello Carlos. Lets see how the thread develops eh? I have just been through your posts and it would be great if you would show us some of your work.

will baddeley wrote:

carlos wrote:Outstanding material? Really?

I have just been through your posts and it would be great if you would show us some of your work.

Does that matter?

I was thinking the same thing as Carlos. The specimen in the pic has nice thick trunk but very little branching that can be seen. What makes it so nice?

Ken

Do you have any more pics from the show you can post? I live about 15 minutes from Guy, he is a very cool person. I have Guy to thank for introducing me to this life altering art.

kcpoole wrote: The specimen in the pic has nice thick trunk but very little branching that can be seen. What makes it so nice?

Agreed. And I'm wondering how the diagonal carving on the dead wood relates to the vertical live part... So, I'm still eager to see the end result.

kcpoole wrote:

will baddeley wrote:

carlos wrote:Outstanding material? Really?

I have just been through your posts and it would be great if you would show us some of your work.

Does that matter?

I was thinking the same thing as Carlos. The specimen in the pic has nice thick trunk but very little branching that can be seen. What makes it so nice?

Ken

Does that matter? You might just want to have a look at his posts. Ok.. the word outstanding may be overzealous but clever carving and styling can work wonders. Does Campeche not bud back then Ken?

I would lke to see the finished result before passing judgement. Thats all.

Guy looks like he's having fun. Don't like that he is not wearing safety glasses with an electric die gridner, and he does have a reputation for being medivaced from Florida demos

They said this was a workshop so the material quality might vary depending on all the trees at the workshop, but the tree posted doesn't look all that great. I'm a bit biased as in general I don't care much for compound leafed bonsai trees, and the campeche ranks up there as one of the most difficult trees to make look decent. The handling of the chop is usually a big problem but in this photo Guy has done the right thing and induced lots of taper via carving. The lack of branches is not a problem for a tropical tree that buds back vigorously and remember there's no such thin as an instant bonsai- even carving needs time to age. One can't expect the visiting artist at a workshop to produce a finished carving job, that is up to the individual as the time allowed among the various attendees prohibits the visiting artists from doing all the work (or even some of the work).

PS Campeche heart wood has a very beautiful dark red and orange color.


PPS Guy has a web page for his bonsai business for those not aware. All of his trees are for sale.
http://www.bonsainorthshore.com/www.bonsainorthshore.com/BONSAI_NORTHSHORE_Nursery.html

BrianG wrote:Do you have any more pics from the show you can post? I live about 15 minutes from Guy, he is a very cool person. I have Guy to thank for introducing me to this life altering art.

Brian, love your avatar. It's a new style - "Root over state" NICE

Russell Coker wrote:... ... And I'm wondering how the diagonal carving on the dead wood relates to the vertical live part... ....

Thank you Russell for posting this wonder which is also mine but I was hesitating to post because.... what do I beginner know about carving style.... ?
So I look forward to reading the reply...

Rob Kempinski wrote:Guy looks like he's having fun. Don't like that he is not wearing safety glasses with an electric die gridner, and he does have a reputation for being medivaced from Florida demos

They said this was a workshop so the material quality might vary depending on all the trees at the workshop, but the tree posted doesn't look all that great. I'm a bit biased as in general I don't care much for compound leafed bonsai trees, and the campeche ranks up there as one of the most difficult trees to make look decent. The handling of the chop is usually a big problem but in this photo Guy has done the right thing and induced lots of taper via carving. The lack of branches is not a problem for a tropical tree that buds back vigorously and remember there's no such thin as an instant bonsai- even carving needs time to age. One can't expect the visiting artist at a workshop to produce a finished carving job, that is up to the individual as the time allowed among the various attendees prohibits the visiting artists from doing all the work (or even some of the work).

PS Campeche heart wood has a very beautiful dark red and orange color.


PPS Guy has a web page for his bonsai business for those not aware. All of his trees are for sale.
http://www.bonsainorthshore.com/www.bonsainorthshore.com/BONSAI_NORTHSHORE_Nursery.html

Rob this link doesn't work can you repost?

by Rob Kempinski on Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:37 pm

BrianG wrote:
Do you have any more pics from the show you can post? I live about 15 minutes from Guy, he is a very cool person. I have Guy to thank for introducing me to this life altering art.

Brian, love your avatar. It's a new style - "Root over state" NICE

Rob, Thanks my club asked me to come up with a design for a t-shirt for the Louisiana Day of Bonsai we'er hosting in a couple of weeks.

Tough to really evaluate the quality of the tree material from that one photo, but I can't get past the lack of eye protection when doing that kind of work. Accident waiting to happen...

Chris

Bob Pressler wrote:

Rob Kempinski wrote:
PPS Guy has a web page for his bonsai business for those not aware. All of his trees are for sale.
http://www.bonsainorthshore.com/www.bonsainorthshore.com/BONSAI_NORTHSHORE_Nursery.html

Rob this link doesn't work can you repost?

Sorry about that. His web address is
www.bonsainorthshore.com

If that doesn't work try Googling "Bonsai Northsore Guy Guidry"

Now back to trees…
Cheers G

the initial post clearly says "enjoyed working them", so even though there is only one picture the chances are there was a nice selection of outstanding material - shame that a simple innocent post got knocked so quickly ! to be honest for a demo on carving the material just needs to be wood and big enough to carve a load away and still be left with something to look at - so even the one in the pic is perfect.

i think you could only comment about protective clothing if you were at the demo though, the Guy may have recommended eye protection etc to the participants - personally i hate being restricted while working so chose only to where a face shield when using the sand blaster, but each person has to decide for themselves - otherwise it will be compulsory respirators for lime sulphar next

Marcus, you seem to be the man to talk to about sandblasting... I am assuming that you refer to a hand-held blaster(what I'm after), which one do you use and what are your recommended specs.
Much appreciated - Justin

The reason I posted this pictures was to show you the workshop. Guy was wearing his eye protection all along but for the picture I asked him to remove it so people can see the passion and how focus he was. The material is collected and that's where the creativity comes in. It is nice to get all the branches to grow where you would like them, but Mother Nature does not work that way. These are awesome material and very old. In 3 1/2" years I have honed my techniques using these trees and thinking way beyond outside the box. Guy did a tremendous job and with the grinder he took it to the next level. There are a great deal of bonsai artist that do not know what the hell to do with this material.

hiram wrote:Guy did a tremendous job and with the grinder he took it to the next level. There are a great deal of bonsai artist that do not know what the hell to do with this material.

And I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about that material. No problems there. So when can we see the end results?

I'm glad to see that Guy has a good grip on my favorite diegrinder. BOSCH!
I bought one many years ago. Put a huge amount of time on it. Still runs perfectly. No maintenance required. Not even motor brush replacement. A quality tool is always a joy to use!

hiram wrote:The reason I posted this pictures was to show you the workshop. Guy was wearing his eye protection all along but for the picture I asked him to remove it so people can see the passion and how focus he was. The material is collected and that's where the creativity comes in. It is nice to get all the branches to grow where you would like them, but Mother Nature does not work that way... There are a great deal of bonsai artist that do not know what the hell to do with this material.

Well, coming from a place in which this material is quite common, I have to admit they are really not the best trees to work with. In nature, at least in my neck of the woods, these trees exhibit fluted trunks and no dead wood. They grow in coastal swamps that are under water for quite a few months throughout the year. Even in the dry season, the freatic level makes it possible for the area to remain quite humid. Like bald cypress, the trees exhibit swollen basal flare as a primary characteristic.

Most of the examples I have seen have yet to emulate their true nature. Because dead portions are not commonplace ( at least in Puerto Rico), excessive carving looks anomalous to me.

As far as Nature goes and the fact that branches do not appear in the "right places", it is up to the skill of he artist to place one there!!! These lend themselves to grafting.

I only have one of these in my collection and I have managed to close all wounds to the point that there is no longer a trunk chop. As I said before, because these grow in coastal swamps, they love water. The main reason behind the fact that most "collected" trees of these species have serious sap withdrawal after extraction is lack of water. Almost 100% of the Haematoxylon trees that have been exported to Florida have at least half of the trunk dead.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

I was at a Guy Guidry cypress workshop today at Wigert's Bonsai Nursery. I believe the owner of the campeche pictured earlier in the thread brought the tree with him to the workshop to show progress. It has had quite a bit of growth since the picture was taken (if that was indeed the same tree).