It’s Happening! 🎉🌳📥
After a long year and a half, we’re finally starting in-person meetings again! We all hope you can attend.
The meeting will be at our usual time from 7:30-9:30pm on the first and third Thursdays (that’s the 1st and 15th of July). For those who have never been to the venue, it’s at the Good Samaritan Episcopal Church on 15040 Union Ave, San Jose, CA 95124. From the parking lot, go down the courtyard to the right of the church to the Social Hall at the end.
Please mind the safety precautions the church has requested from all of us:
Masks will be required as per the Church. Courtesy masks, if needed, and hand sanitizer will be available at the hospitality table.
Social Distancing: Chairs and tables will be spaced at 6’ intervals.
Non-alcoholic beverages and cookies are allowed but spreads of food are not.
Plastic chairs and tables to be wiped down after the meeting with sanitizer.
We will be featuring Gerry Field’s Tree improvement program, a club classic to start off a new year. Please bring in a few trees you’d like group feedback on to get started.
Trees in the Wild
Image and Text by Tung X. Dao
This image features another image from my collection Wild Niwaki. This time, we have an image titled Distant Tree on a Hill. I believe it’s some sort of valley oak — it’s definitely in the style of one. When viewed from a distance, you can see the general shape and form of a tree and less the details. It’s a reference to the Suiseki (the art of viewing stones) style of a far view stone which has more round edges and features. In this particular tree, it appears to have a twin trunk with a lovely oak silhouette. The tree has very good movement, or twists and turns in the branches. This tree has yet to be filled with leaves, so we can study the structure easily.
One of the things that I’ve noticed over the years for branch placement is to not have the lowest branch cross the horizon of the composition. The horizon is line formed by the rear of the pot. By not doing so, we prevent a lot of visual tension in our composition. When I’ve wired some of my branches in the past, it never looked right when I had a branch that crossed the horizon. It looked too weird. You can wire and place the lowest branches higher or possibly create a deadwood feature such as a jin if appropriate.
This scene had great light and color that drew me to it. If you see a tree in the wild that you’d like featured, just send it my way with some of your thoughts on it and I’ll feature it!
Upcoming Midori Events
Our first July meeting will feature Gerry Field’s Tree Improvement Program. Please bring in a few trees that you would like some feedback on and you can get focused group feedback.
For the third Thursday general workshop, bring in whatever trees you want to work on or need help with and we can all help in as needed.
Upcoming Bonsai Events
Gardeneur Summer Plant Festival
July 24, 2021 — Downtown San Jose
Gardeneur
We are excited to announce Gardeneur’s first summer festival to take place at St. Leo the Great Church in San Jose. Sip your wine, drink cold beer, and enjoy live music/entertainment while browsing through the Bay Area's most complete selection of houseplants, aroids, Hoyas, cacti, succulents, air plants, studio pottery, and more! WIN a rare plant raffle. More details to come. Follow us @gardeneur and stay tuned!
7th US National Bonsai Exhibition
September 11-12, 2021 — East Rochester, New York
US National Bonsai Exhibition
The world bonsai community will once again be enriched by the display of bonsai gathered from across the United States at the 7th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, September 12-13, 2020, in Rochester, NY.
Like Japan’s Kokufu Bonsai Exhibition, people from around the world attend the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibitions to appreciate and study the diversity of the unique and distinctive species displayed by accomplished bonsai artists from across the United States.
GSBF Bonsai Rendezvous
October 2 - 3, 2021 — Hotel Mission de Oro
Golden State Bonsai Federation
Get ready and plan for attending the 2021 GSBF Bonsai Rendezvous. The event theme is Bonsai Rendezvous. A two-day event for renewal and celebration for the love of bonsai. No registration fee. Open to the public. Free bonsai demonstrations both days. Free professional bonsai critiques, Bring Your Own Bonsai and Do It Yourself Bonsai settings. Vendors from Northern and Southern California in one huge location. There will be silent auctions for quality bonsai and related items. There will be no banquet dinners. Additional information and schedule of activities forthcoming shortly. Stay tuned to GSBF website "Convention" section of the GSBF website.
