more is coming

No images, sorry!

I moved into my new apartment on the lovely sulgrave av of Mt. Washington, and I love it. Its big, second floor, a/c all over, but I've never needed to use it because there's a constant breeze and the air is fresh and crisp, I look out the window and all i see are trees ... its hard to believe i'm still in baltimore city. 

I started letting biff out and she's been lovin it; so much that she's managed to kill like 4 birds and 2 mice; my little girl is growin up :3   I'm probably going to get another cat soon to keep her company though she's got a friend outside who seems nice enough.   

The bonsai are doing well, particularly the Russian Olive ... I beat the hell out of that thing when I was home, and it sprung right back to life.  I'm letting it grow big before winter hits, at which time I'll do some hard pruning.   Been making grow boxes and doing some repotting for the more pot-bound and struggling plants.  I might lose some this winter, which would definitely be a bummer, but I've heard that you gotta kill like 100 trees before you get good at bonsai so whatever.

Anyway, pics soon when I get the chance to upload

A lil bored

Back in Baltimore, or Mt. Washington, that is. Lovely neighborhood, great air, good neighbors. The problem is its too darn populated to find a place to shoot arrows, and I took a train to get here so I was unable to bring my bonsai with me. They'll come down with Biff in August when I move into a more permanent apartment.

In other news I've begun to work out again, the place I'm staying has a great fitness center, and it feels great to be active once again. I've even started running, oddly. I can still do a mile in just over 9 minutes. I hope to get that time down to about 8:15 to 8:30 by the end of my stay here.

Work is great. I really really wish I could put some of my work online, as I'm really pleased with it, but alas, I cannot!

A most productive day!

This morning i got up, and felt a great sense of purpose! 

well, not really, but I woke up early so i had 4 more 'extra hours' to evade boredom, so I did some preparatory stuff to get ready for my glorious return to Maryland. 

FIRSTLY, I took the time and put another (my last) japanese maple into the ground. Here's the maple in its oversized pot, which it had actually grown in enough to hold all the dirt together!! Thrilled. Its a little bit thin. in fact, its very thin, but I like the branches so BY PUTTING IT IN THE GROUND it'll grow a lot faster because the roots will be uninhibited. Also, I put a piece of wood beneath it so that when it grows, the roots don't go down, but outward.

Here are the rest of my japanese maples along the driveway, in partial sun. They're lovin it ...

Just look at all the new growth!! (light green is new)

From there I repotted a Black Birch that I have from a crappy, badly draining sandy soil to a more rich, better draining loamy/stone dust mix, and a little Aluminum Sulphate to increase the acidity in the soil.  I also added some Alumina to the Highbush Blueberry. Then I went out to the woods and came back to a cluster of Highbush blueberries that had caught my eyes as I patrolled the woods for trespassers (damn kids and their smirnoff ices)

As with moth Highbush Blueberries that I've found, there is a significant amount of deadwood, in this case, of the veritable forest we have here, only about 2 trunks are still alive. The rest are dead.  I think this is going to be my first forest-style (yose ue) 

As you can see, its a pretty sizable bonsai. My largest, in fact. Its going to be a little hard to get this down to Maryland, and find a place for the box, but I'll manage, hopefully. 

Here it is in its grow box. you can see how big this one is. I need to make some kind of ceramic vessel for this eventually. It'll be my largest one yet.

Then I went out to the archery range and shot some more. After tightening a couple screws that were loose and rattling, I evidently needed to re calibrate the sights for some reason, so my shooting was pretty crappy at full length. my half-length however, is excellent. And at about 18 yards or so I can repeatedly shoot a 50 or so out of 60 points, sometimes more.  My personal record for the longer 25 yard was also broken when I scored a 51 after finally recalibrating. The problem however, was that the arrows were so close together one of the bullseye (10 points) arrows got hit by another arrow that also hit the bulls, so I needed a new nock on that one.  Still, unlike the last time I shot, I was shooting a smaller target (40 cm, i think) so I'm definitely progressing. 

I concentrated most on using only my trapezius muscles and waiting till i sight the target steadily before releasing, and after a breif adjustment period out came the 51.  I need a new sight though, its too easy in readjusting my current one to screw up the adjustment entirely.

Eventually I came home, and decided to recycle an old ripped pair or shorts, some oatmeal containers and some wire, and pissed away 3 hours making this handy-dandy quiver, which was a fun excersize in making use of stuff. I'm really not keen on blowing a ton of money on something as simple as this, so I was pleased with my result. 

This'll make shooting at home a little easier as I won't have to spend so much time getting the arrows back to the shooting spot or something. I dunno it'll make me look cool. or a dork. or both, whatever  who cares

Finally Figured it out

... what that big crazy one with the cool trunk's was. That is, what the species of the tree is:

Highbush Blueberry (Caccinium Corymbosum)

(many thanks to Leslie!!)

Woot! SO know I know why its dying and what to do to save it! Here are some fun facts:

Choose a planting site with full sunlight and protection from strong winds. Avoid low areas that drain poorly or are prone to early frosts. Blueberries prefer a well-drained, sandy loam soil, rich in organic matter. Heavy, clay soils should be avoided, but may be made more suitable for blueberries with the addition of organic matter, such as peatmoss, sawdust and composted manure. All perennial weeds should be eliminated from the site before planting. If necessary, grow cover crops such as buckwheat, rye or oats on the site and plow them under for one to two seasons before planting blueberries to eliminate the weeds. Planting cover crops will also add valuable organic matter to the soil.

Have your soil tested to determine its pH and fertility status. Unlike many other garden crops, blueberries require a relatively acid soil for good growth. The soil pH should be within the range of 4.5 to 5.2.

I had put it in grow box with clay and pine needles - the pine needles were probably a good thing, but not the clay. Not enough acid (as Leslie pointed out, by the veins on the trees) and not enough drainage - when I pulled it out of the box, the box was pretty much mud. 

So today I made up a new soil, and used the hose to clean off all the crappy soil, which exposed the feeder roots of the old plant.  The soil was 1 part stone dust, 1 part potting soil ( which was mostly peat moss based) and 1/2 part compost.  On initial watering, I noticed a super-awesome amount of draining by comparison to whatever i had in it before. Eventually I'm gonna get some acid-y fertilizer which I'll hit it with as soon as I can.  I'm hoping that i'll see some new growth in the next month, as its a really cool stump, and definitely has potential.

As a side note I've been looking around my property and found a couple more highbush blueberry plants with a similar, awesome base.  I'm gonna look around the area even further before I go back to Baltimore. This Cultivar shows much potential for bonsai - Produces flowers, fruits, and turns bright orange/red in fall, not to mention having a beautiful trunk when collected from the wild.

Some more Highbush Blueberry notes (for myself)

Management 

Ideal soil for cultivation is moist, high in organic 

matter, highly acidic (4.5-5.5), and well-drained.  The 

plants grow in full sun to partial shade, but those in 

open sites produce more flowers and have brighter 

fall foliage color.  

Adaptation and Distribution 

Widespread in eastern North America, the highbush 

blueberry has been introduced outside of its natural 

range for commercial berry production.  The most 

common native habitat is in moist or wet peat of 

moderate to high acidity – in and around marshes, 

swamps, lakes and flood-prone areas.  V. 

corymbosum also occurs in drier areas such as dunes 

and barrier beaches, rocky hillsides, oak woods, and 

pinewoods. 

'arrowed'

Welp the "whisker biscuit" is working! after a little trial and error, my accuracy is getting real good! This was the last round today - the small dark patch is about 4" in diameter, and this is from about 10 meters. This seems like pretty close, I know, but the idea with learning to shoot is to start out close, and learn the form. If I can manage to do this spread consistently, I'll push the target back another 10 yards, and then another 10, and then perhaps another 10.

anyway I was just real proud of this last rally :)

Thoughts for saving the world

SO I think we can all agree that serious lifestyle changes are in the future of us Americans - with oil prices skyrocketing, driving gas, energy, and food bills through the roof, its easy to believe in a dark, dark, uncertain future. As almost every facet of society is heavily dependent on the black substance, what happens when 'the oil runs out?' The oil's not going to run out. Its just going to become so expensive that its hardly worth getting, unless you're rich. In the meantime, I have full confidence in the ingenuity of scientists and inventors all over the world. However, our comfort and way of life will probably change by other methods than simply 'running out' of oil - the rainforests are smaller than ever, and as a result, Carbon Dioxide and Methane emissions aren't being as efficiently filtered, and are becoming a lot more concentrated in the atmosphere, which of course, leads to warming on a global scale, which could and probably will lead to massive climatic changes and severe/unpredictable weather, if it hasn't already. As everyone rushes to use Ethanol, the conversion of grain fields into ethanol fields hikes up the prices of meat, and the grain they depend on, as well as food for everyone else. So i've been trying to change the way I live to have less of an impact, using less water, mass transit, etc, but I've also been thinking about other methods to solve multiple problems - like the tubes of algae that thrive off of coal plant emissions - basically, rows of clear plastic tubes where the exhaust is rerouted to, that are full of water and a type of algae that filters out the carbon and carbon dioxide. The resulting bacteria can be then rendered down into biodiesel. (There is an display of this at the Boston Museum of Science) I read about how some were experimenting with the use of regular grass on the roof of their house instead of regular tar roofing that has to be replaced every 20 years or so - the grass absorbs heat and disperses it better than tar does, so its easier to maintain a cooler house in the summer, and the sod insulates in the winter. Additionally, since they were not using tar roofing, the petroleum use was cut in half or more. The only thing at the time that I could think would be a drawback for that type of roofing would be the increased cost for the compensation of the roof's weight, and the problem of mowing it ... I feel like this idea could be taken a lot further - in the cities I see row after row of ... rowhouses :p that have flat roofs, some silver (to reflect light) some black (cuz the landlord is poor or lazy) But why put regular grass on the roof? Why not something like Switchgrass? There are acres and acres of land just waiting to be used atop of buildings and numerous houses across the world.

Option 1: Switchgrass - the tall grass that grows quickly and easily and can be reduced into ethanol would help to solve the cooling/heating bill, and the crops could be sold and used for fuel. In addition, the grass would help filter CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Option 2: the forest! - Why leave it with only one species - throw dirt on the flat roofs and let anything that wants to grow, throw acorns and berries and mountain laurel - whatever grows in the area and let it grow out - when the trees get too big, cut 'em down and harvest them for use in paper or lumber. Since trees regulate the temperature on their leaves, not only would this help to cool down cities in the summer (which I think we all know get really really hot) but it would again, help filter the air, and allow space for animals that have been pushed out due to development. And why go to a park that could become a crimespot at night, when you could just climb the stairs and find a woods right above where you live?

The key would be designing a roof or roof conversion that would be relatively inexpensive and efficient, especially for old buildings, so efficient that it would not only be a green thing to do, but also cheaper than having to maintain a tar or shingle roof - this would probably more likely happen with switchgrass than with trees. Its expensive and its more difficult to do right now but its necessary for us as humans to start sooner than later. 2012 can either be the ragnarok that the mayans predicted, or the wide scale mental, sociological, and lifestyle change of the human race.

But can you imagine a city where the business buildings tower over what appears to be a gridded forest? something to paint in the future, for sure.

Whisker Biscuit and new Shimpaku!

I wasn't really planning on getting another tree, 11 is a good number but I couldn't help looking through a nursery when I passed it today, and managed to catch this gem before they were gonna throw it in a dumpster - marked down from 40 to 20, they couldn't get rid of it because its a little sickly looking and scraggly, not as filled in and healthy.  when I examined the container it was in later when I brought it home, it appears to be a solid ball of roots; it really really needs a root pruning. Additionally, the plant was in the sun all day long and its been hot - shimpaku junipers enjoy lots of sun, but not direct middday sun, which is what it had been getting. Additionally based off of the color I think it was being overwatered.  

So before they threw it in a dumpster, I offered 'em 10 bucks, which they readily accepted.

Its a beast - two feet tall at least, and as I said, scraggly looking. But with the right attention, that can be changed. 

size 14 male foot, and the beast of a tree.

But on close examination ...

Gold! Lookit that trunk! the bark is great, and the photos don't do it justice, but the trunk is 2-3 inches thick, and I've been lookin for a thick trunk (I've got a lot of big pots lyin around)

A view from afar - after I've cleared away some of the bad stuff.

another shot of the trunk.
And some more clearing done. I'm not going to rush through this one, because its a big tree, and there are a lot of things to think about. More later

--------------

So for my Birthday my parents got me a gift certificate to the nearby archery range because I asked for a "whisker biscuit" which is an attachment for my bow. The problem was that they come in different sizes, hence the gift certificate. Mom/Dad if you're reading this THANKS! I love it!!

For those who don't know, a Whisker Biscuit is an arrow rest - on older bows (think native americans) the shooter will rest the arrow on a finger, or some sort of protrusion, while pulling the end of the arrow back before shooting (loosing) the problem, is that this ends up doing two things - firstly, it hurts the fletches (think feathers) on the arrow, and can end up ruining arrows. Secondly, and somewhat more importantly, the fletches that hit the finger or the bow after being released end up putting the arrow on a wobbly flight, which can ruin accuracy, and consistent shooting.   A whisker Biscuit is a bristle circle thing. welp, pictures help. So here's my bow:  Its a Bear DeerHunter, from the 80's - a double cam compound bow that shoots (currently) at 60 lbs, which is enough to take down a deer (as the name would imply)

here's the shooting block - looks fancy, but the three pins on the top are there for aiming based off of range - they still need to be adjusted, but basically they'll end up being 30, 60, and 120 feet.  Beneath them you see the circular thing - thats the whisker biscuit. You drop the arrow in from the opening in the right, and the darker black bristles hold the arrow up while the brown arrows hold it centered and allow for the fletches to pass cleanly through.

here we see the arrow in the biscuit!

After attaching this and adjusting a couple things, I hit 3 bullseyes in a row from 30 feet - which is AWESOME before fine-tuning. Also thats almost good enough for bowfishing and small game.  So I'm pretty excited for my future shooting!

Squamata Wiring and Procumbens

Today's work was pretty much finishing up wiring the tree, and once wired, I could do some more pinching and thinning of the foliage. I'm very happy with the way this is going. 

This is my second-ever bonsai, and its starting to fill in nicely now, a Juniperus Procumbens Nana, or Japanese Dwarf Garden Juniper. The pot beneath is one I made earlier in the year, Red Kyanite clay with VCAA green applied overtop and wood fired.  I'm quite happy with how it looks with this tree.

And here is a possible future look for it:

This post is for Ethan

Soooo I visited a nursery today :> and got my very first pair of concave cutters!!

For those who don't know what they are, concave cutters are a bonsai artist's best friend; they cut a - you guessed it - concave chunk out of the tree, so when you cut the branch close enough to the trunk, it heals over without bulging out, which is critical for maintaining a smooth taper up the trunk.

My adorable cat wondered exactly what I was doing when I put ...

... this hairball of a plant on the deck table!  Juniperus Squamata, more commonly known as "Blue Juniper"  I've been looking for another conifer, particularly with a blue hue about it so I can put it in one of my blue pots, and unfortunately the Cedars were a little bit out of my pricerange. However, 

One look at this trunk, and the cheaper plant looks mighty fine. 

what I was looking for when I went to the nursery was not the branches of the leaves - both of those can be grown and added later - the trunk was the more important part, as were the roots. Notice here the zig-zag the trunk takes, as well as the taper; good stuff. 

Firstly I cleared away the significant longer growth - the distance between cones (leaves on conifers) was far too much on the new growth that shot outwards, and they were distracting and in the way. Additionally, the thickness of the trunk demanded a substantially smaller overall foliage, so gettin rid of the excess was important.

In order to get a better idea about the trunk and to start thinking about where the 'front' of the tree was going to be,  I cut off the ring of the plastic container and used it like a hairband.

Then I cleared away all the smaller foliage - the small stuff near/growing off of the trunk, so I could get a better look at how the trunk and the major branches interact. Most older trees (elms aside) don't have such foliage and in clearing it away helps to age the tree, as well as helps you visualize what you want to do with the tree.

Took away some of the larger branches to push it further off the ground. 

As you can see I thinned out a lot of the foliage, wired a branch to straighten it and make it longer on one side. I'll pinch back any new growth on the main part of umbrage to force that one branch to grow some more and bush up, making the umbrage a scalene triangle - right now its a little too even.  I need a thinner gauge wire for some of the branches, and once I have that I'll wire some more of the branches as well as do some more pruning.  Overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

Russian Olive Dreams

I'm really hopin this one turns out well - i dug it out of the ground yesterday and spent a good 3 hours today rootpruning, repotting, pruning and then styling a little. 

had a couple problems initially with draining  but got that fixed up and now things are alright, but I don't think i'm going to need to water this one as often as my others, perhaps.

I've not seen anyone use the Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) in bonsai (I am, of course, very new to bonsai, so correct me if I'm wrong here) but up here in CT they grow like weeds, and fast. Trees that I saw as whips not 6 years ago are already 20 feet tall! They grow fast, and they can take a lot of abuse; repeated, brutal hackings, boiling water, weed killer ... nothing works.  Additionally, the leaves don't get too big, and I think the tree would respond well to leaf-shrinking techniques, and ultimately become an excellent species for use in bonsai.  They even fruit later on the summer, as well as have a pretty yellow flower in early spring. 

My only concern is how well the species takes to healing, as what I've seen in the wild isnt perhaps the most beautiful thing.  I had to go into the cuts I made today and re trim the bark back because it was flaking out (man, do I need a spherical or concave cutter) 

Tomorrow i go to a nursery to see if I can get one of those two tools and to see if there is any other nursery stock worth purchasing.  Lookin forward to it!

Today's Treasure!

Went a-yamadori-ing today and stumbled (literally) across this beeeauutiful uh... huckleberry? No... not entirely sure about what type of tree this is, but it looks pretty darn old, judging by the two huge rotting trunks, and super-thick roots.  The photos really don't do it justice, but I'm quite pleased with it anyway.  Still, I got about 2 years before things are finished.

Three more trees tomorrow, I hope

Burnsai

Bonsai as I understand it seeks to capture the essence of a tree, illustrating some greater theme by using the tree itself as a medium, as John Naka famously did with his Goshin, which he made to illustrate his grandchildren.  So I've been experimenting with the idea of the human hand in nature, which is so crisply illustrated in the entire art of bonsai - a human takes a tree from nature, to control it and make it look more natural, a miniaturized sample of nature. I find it very amusing in an ironic sort of way. 

These bonsai trees have been burned on purpose. I think that there is a certain amount of beauty in the bleached white bare trunks of trees that perished in a forest fire, something I tried to capture here, as well as making commentary on that ironic human control thing, and perhaps a statment or two on the future of 'nature.' 

One day I'll write up a more concise statement, but I guess thats the general jist of things here. 

A new era

Welp now that I'm home in CT for a little while I've found a little bit of spare time on my hands (woot!) and as a result I've decided to get into some of the other things that interest me aside from concept art and illustration.  Seeing as how I'd like to keep my other blog a little bit more "professional" -- which basically means that I'd like to keep it illustration and concept art, so that potential employers can look and see immediately stuff I'm into without having to go through other stuff. 

So for this blog I'm going to be putting up my Bonsai, Abstract, Ceramic, and Sculptural work, as well as anything else I might be interested in (which could be scientific articles or just random jabberings).

I look forward to updating this as frequently as my other!