• Sunday, November 08th, 2009
Recently I was interviewed by Dick Miller of Gulfstream Tropical Bonsai Journal for the Winter issue of the magazine. It’s always nice to get an oppportunity to tell a little bit about yourself in a publication such as this. Below are thumbnails of the pages, but to read to actual article you’ll have to click on the pages to view it on their website (Password: Tropical)
Interview Page 1
Interview Page 2
Interview Page 3
Interview Page 4
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• Saturday, May 09th, 2009
The program at the last Central Florida Bonsai Club was something that we refer to as a Three Ring Circus. Not that it is chaos, but because there is some much going on at the same time. Three artist (or in this case 4) were asked to work on similar material at the same time without looking at the others for inspiration. It is a nice program because it allows club members to interact and make suggestions during the demonstrations. It always amazes me how different each of the trees turn out, even though they are so similar to begin with.
This time it was Shimpaku Junipers, and not one of my favorite trees to work with. These trees were pretty challenging with no growth close to the trunk and long thin branches to deal with. It required some creativity and some raffia to bend and twist these branches into shape.
Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers always does an outstanding job with his trees. As I was putting my second wire on my tree I glanced over to see Mike had practicially finished wiring. No fair!
Adam Lavigne
Adam Lavigne also went with an informal upright. His trunk pretty much dictated the way this tree was going to be styled. He was a last minute participant, and he did a very nice job on stying it out.
Rick Jeffry
These trees were challenging and Rick’s tree was no exception. However he was able to harness the wild growth of the tree into a wonderful windswept.
Paul Pikel
My tree took a different turn all together. The first 3 inches of the tree indicated to me that it wanted to be a cascade or semi cascade. The raffia really allowed me to bend the branches very far. The apex of the tree is pretty much a corkscrew to get the growth low and close to the trunk.
All of the trees will require new growth to pop out and fill in. However I think this year’s auction next month for these trees will bring in a nice amount. If your club hasn’t tried this program you may want to try it. Its a lot of fun and a really eye opener.
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Category: Club Events
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Tags: 3 ring circus, adam lavigne, bonsai style, cascade, informal upright, Mike Rogers, Paul Pikel, rick jeffreys, semi cascade, shimpaku, windswept Comments off
• Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Well the trees are now on display at Epcot for the next 10 weeks. The show set up went very well and we had a blast doing it. There are plenty of pictures, but I wanted to post one of my all time favorties taken of my tree by Greg Matthews.
Paul Pikel Bouganvillea at Epcot 2009
If you get the chance be sure to see the display. You won’t be disappointed!!
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• Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Over the past weekend I entered my miniature tokonama at the Joy of Bonsai, sponsored by the KAWA Bonsai club. If you haven’t been to it or even heard of it, you are missing out. This small club puts on a world class bonsai convention, display, and demonstration every year, and it just keeps getting better.
Miniature Tokonama
I am really happy with the way it turned out, and I think my composition was simple and balanced. However there was good competition.
Tokonama Contest Entries
When you see close ups of these little tokonama it is hard to judge how small they are. I hope this photo gives a good idea of just how miniature everything is.
Tokonama Competition 3rd place
Although I didn’t win the competition, I did still manage to take home 3rd place. Not bad I guess. I just need to start working on small trees so that next time I will hopefully do better. All in all I really enjoyed the experience
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