Pontetilla bonsai
May 13 2012

European Bonsai Tour #7 The EBA show in Ljubljana, Slovenia

This weekend was the EBA show in Ljubljana. I Exhibited a tree, was a headline demonstrator, I traded my Yamadori and I did a presentation about Hawthorns! The weekend has been full on, but what made this extra special was that I did not have to stay in a hotel, I stayed with Nik Rozman and his wonderful parents Peter and Marina… it truly was home from home.

Staying with Nik was great because having somebody who was ‘local’ and deeply involved with the organising club meant that a lot of the ‘formalities’ (translating, help with my trade stand, drivers) were easily overcome. My thanks goes to them for making my stay so enjoyable.

The majority of exhibition was a very high standard, with 11 countries taking part with over trees on show and 12 traders. Normally the first day is busier, not on this occasion. Saturday was a VERY hot 28c and sunny with the people through the door less than expected. The exact opposite on Sunday VERY cold 4c and overcast. More than three times the amount of people came.

Considering that this is the biggest Bonsai show ever to be staged staged in Slovenia the organising club Slovenski bonsaj klub did a great job.

My demo with Nik was on a beautiful Mugo Pine that he had collected three years before.

Kevin Willson assisted by Richard Chambers worked a massive Olive and Yew, the Italian talked about a mugo pine that had been fully prepared for him by his assistant.


A full gallery of the trees is to follow. Tomorrow I drive to See Walter Pall and continue on with my European Bonsai Tour

Sumo Portrait
May 10 2012

Yamadori hunting on the tree line high in the mountains

Matija was kind enough to take me to one of his happy yamadori hunting grounds. Fortunately we could drive a long way high into the mountains.

We still had to walk/climb for two hours but it sure was worth it! Larch, Spruce and Pine yamadori in abundance. Also the wild flowers at this time of year are spectacular.

We collected a couple of truly beautiful mugo pines with great movement and shari. Then it was on to simply one of the most impressive ‘Sumo’ Larch I have ever seen… and YES! Matija offered it to me… to collect NEXT YEAR! As it was a wee bit late in the season to collect.

So a European tour is in the planning for next year so that I can collect this rather handsome tree.

Beer and view
May 9 2012

A gentle walk up a Bonsai Hill to take a beer with Matija

It’s not actually as Bonsai Hill it’s just that it’s WAY smaller that the mountains that surround it! This is how the conversation went:

Matija: “you fancy a beer”

Me: “Yeh sure”

Matija: “we need to take a short walk… up that hill”

Me: “What’s wrong with the Spa store”

Matija: “the view is not as good”

So we set of as at a gentle pace. Matija is 1.83m tall and long legs run in his family so I was a bit slower…and older.

And he was right the view was amazing, definitely worth the walk/climb… and the beer was welcome too!

On the way down I wanted to take the Tractor… for some reason it would not start!

on the road in Slovenia
May 9 2012

European Bonsai Tour #5 “Off Piste” With Matija Triglav in the mountains of Slovenia.

I am “off Piste” with my Tour of Europe, I am staying with Matija Triglav in the mountains of Slovenia. So when I get my “own” wifi connection I will post more because I am using Matijas Laptop and the keyboard is not QWERTY! its totally different!

The Eye of the Cyclone
May 8 2012

Enrico Savini’s amazing ‘The Eye of The Cyclone’ Juniper Bonsai

One of the best parts of staying over at a Bonsai masters house is that you can get up close and personal to the trees, this video shows ’The Eye of The Cyclone’ Juniper Bonsai from all angles. It’s an amazing tree and the work done is superb. I first saw this tree when It won the Noelanders Trophy in 2010.

 

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May 7 2012

European Bonsai Tour #4 Arco Bonsai Demonstrators: Dimostrazione a concorso tra 15 Istruttori Italiani Video

One room, 15 demonstrators and I imagine quite a few egos! working on amazing yamadori trees… it was quite a feast for the eyes. It was actually more the 15 because some artists had UP TO 5 assistants all working frantically to complete their projects in the allotted time. Here was an opportunity to showcase your talent/bonsai school to a very large audience.

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May 7 2012

European Tour #3 XVI° CONGRESSO UBI & XXVII° ARCOBONSAI Report

Was it worth driving for 21 hours and 1122 miles (1805 km) one way to participate in a bonsai show? The answer on this occasion is a resounding YES as THIS was no ordinary show. Arco Bonsai Club and UBI invited the cream of Italian (and invited guest… ME!) to the XVI° CONGRESSO UBI and XXVII° ARCOBONSAI.

Almost 100 trees were exhibited with sixty selected to be featured in the annual book. There were a few trees familiar to me but most were new trees that I had not seen before. As you would expect the majority of bonsai were Mediterranean species, Olives, Pines, Junipers and Myrtles however in the show were a few oaks, hawthorns (including mine) and beech. The exhibition was made up of many large and VERY large trees. I counted only 10 trees that were Chuhin or smaller. There was only one display of Shohin. The judging of the trees took EIGHT HOURS and was headed up by Enrico Savini, great care was taken as the previous year a lot of controversy surrounded the selection of prizes.

The venue is the Casinò Municipale (it’s NOT a Casino) in Arco, Trentino which is in the far north just south of the Austrian Border… and what a great venue! The exhibition halls are baroque and very ornate the demo rooms (15 Italian artists all working at the same time) were large and well lit. A huge bonus was a café/bar on site (Superb Coffee 1€) that was the meeting and chilling place for the event. When the sun did shine everyone sat out on the veranda.

Over 45 traders selling all things Bonsai filled the outdoor and the entrance to the show. Noticeably there was the very large amount of Yamadori sellers however the stock on sale was surprisingly poor…any real quality was over 2500€. There was a great selection of potters but NONE from the UK (see my opening sentence) Next year the show is in the south of Italy, this will add a further 800 miles to my journey! But when good coffee is only 1€ I’m not complaining.

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May 6 2012

European Bonsai Tour #2 Saturday night Arco Bonsai Party

It is 6am and I cannot sleep as I am recovering from a gastronomic extravaganza that was the Saturday night Arco Bonsai Party. We know that the bonsai in Italy is amongst the best in the western world but bonsai came a close second to food last night. If a nation can be defined by one thing then for Italy it has to be food. Clubs from the four corners of Italy brought their regional delicacies, Cheeses, salami’s, drinks, bread… great pride was shown when cheese or ham was offered… Yes there was beer and wine as you would expect at a good party but here is a list of what I remember!

Lemons, beans, mozzarella (large and small), breads of all shapes and sizes, HOT pancakes cooked on a table stove filled with Nutella, over 20 different sausages and Salami, biscuits, olives, olives in Grappa, anchovies, so many different cheeses, a hot chilli paste?, dried meats carved at the table, homemade wine and spirits… and finally (my favourite) a spirit made from the fruit of the Myrtle tree. A large group from Austria got in on the act and brought Snapps (excellent). There was an ‘official’ meal included in the ticket but this was upstaged by all the gifted delights.

It WAS a party, and boy do the Italians know how to party; Adriano Bonini dressed as a Padre with a friend dressed as a nun (with beard) gave blessings to the assembled. The band played ‘O sole Mio’ and the roof lifted as everyone sang along (me too) and the wine flowed.

The formalities included announcing the winner of the new talent and the presentation of UBI prizes. The speeches totalled LESS than 5 minutes for the whole evening… hosted by a senior (I am being kind here) gentleman in a long multi coloured WIG! Such was the atmosphere of the night, these guys were there to have a good time… there was even dancing.

Barbed wire bonsai table side view
May 5 2012

The strangest Bonsai Tables I have seen!

These two tables are for sale at Arco Bonsai in Italy. The first is very rough wood with barbed wire as featured. The second table was competed and then burned to create the effect you can see here. Beautiful… yes I think so. The maker told me that this was ‘Italian style’

May 5 2012

European Bonsai Tour #1 report Belgium to Italy and Arco Bonsai

I started my European Tour at 6.00am on Wednesday, made it to the Eurotunnel on time after meeting up with Stone Monkey (this is another blog post to follow). The gods were not looking favourably as the weather for driving was terrible and the ring road around Brussels at rush hour is NOT the best at any time! I arrived at the Noelanders’ Club at 7.25pm only 5 minutes before the start.

Bad weather in Belgium

A ‘friendly’ crowd at The Noelanders Club

It was a good turnout of 60 members considering the weather. I stayed the night with Stéphane Van Lind and his family and the next day held a workshop for six guys. Some nice trees were worked! Then it was a six hour drive to my overnight in Stuttgart.

My GOD the Germans drive fast! So I had to join them. My AVERAGE speed being 105mph sometimes driving at 120mph! At 5.15 am I set off for Arco, I had six hours FAST driving ahead of me, through some beautiful countries.

I had no time to soak in the beauty

Italian Police want to what is in my car

Getting into Italy was ‘interesting’ the Border police wanted to know what I had in my car. As you can imagine they were fascinated… they held me up for 25 minutes, and I was already on a tight schedule. I arrived in at 11.00 with one hour to spare to have my tree registered for the event, and it is from here that I am posting.

Outside the venue at Arco Bonsai

Arco is a beautiful town about 2 miles from Lake Garda in Italy. The venue is in the Municipal Casino (it’s not a casino) I will be posting a full report about the event soon.

Juniper on a rock at Arco