Sunday, March 30, 2008

New Drawings with Edna





Untitled Drawing, 29" x 23" (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & black pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol




Untitled Drawing, 29" x 23" (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & black pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol



Untitled Drawing, 29" x 23" (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & black pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol
Edna and I got together last Thursday for another bout of drawing.  I think it's been a month since we last spent a day drawing.  Life and death stuff keeps getting in the way.  We're adding these to our Flower Portfolio for our exhibit at the Los Cruces Museum a eleven months from now.  Several attempts to find other venues (museums, galleries) have not been successful.



Posted by Chuck at 22:29:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Japanese Maple Bonsai





Japanese Maple
Twelve or thirteen years ago another Albuquerque bonsai enthusiast gave me about 50 Japanese Maple seedlings. Over the years, that number has dwindled to about twelve. Knowing what I now know about Japanese Maples in Albuquerque, I probably would have declined the offer. Now that I have all these years invested in them, I'll continue to work with them. The climate is too dry and hot for these plants, although they can be grown above 8,000 feet if they are protected from winter cold. In the summer, I keep them on the shady side of a fence to protect them from the afternoon sun. Still, by August the leaves are ragged. They do not like being in the ground here because of the high pH of the soil. I've tried amending the soil, but the pH climbs back up in a few months. Keeping them in large (9" - 10", 23cm), diameter training pots with a soil mix of decomposed granite and pine bark mulch and watering with rain water when I can is the only way they will thrive here. This tree has a trunk thickness of about 1 1/4" (3cm.) The roots are healthy and spread evenly about the trunk. I have repotted these maples every two to three years, trimming and redirecting the roots each time.


Root Mass after Rinsing away Soil
Here it easy to see the distribution of the roots. The soil mix is easy to remove from the roots by sloshing it in a bucket of water. The bucket of water has a 1/4 teaspoon (1ml) of Superthrive per gallon of rainwater in which I soak the roots for several minutes.


The Bottom of the Tree with the Downward Growing Roots Removed




Root Distribution after Triming
I have trimmed the larger roots heavily, but have left the thinner ones. All the Japanese bonsai masters say, "Prune the roots fearlessly." First, I wonder what the Japanese word for "fearlessly" is. Two, is that word really being translated correctly? My fearless trimming in Albuquerque has resulted in many bonsai fatalities.


In the Pot
I have a hard time finding pots in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area. I buy them when I see them. Where possible I choose deeper bots because the of the dry summer heat. This one is too large for the tree, so I will be on the lookout for smaller one. I have spread a thin layer of decomposed granite sieved to 1/8" (3mm) on the top of the coarser soil mix for appearance. The other problem I have is getting moss to grow on the soil. There is a moss that thrives on the boulders in my neighborhood during winter, but I can't get that to flourish during the summer.


Posted by Chuck at 21:23:27 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday, March 14, 2008

San Jose Juniper



Last Sunday, 3/9/2008, I started work on the San Jose Juniper I wrote about two months ago, 1/16/2008. Before taking it out of its pot, I trimmed back the branches to get a better idea of the material.


San Jose Juniper with Some of Branches Trimmed Away, about 3ft (1m) diameter




Root Mass




Cutting off Bottom Third of Root Mass




Root Mass Trimmed Back
After a couple of hours' work I've cleaned out the root ball. There was no main tap root to the plant. In addition, the condition of the branching leads me to think that at one time, perhaps, someone had intended this plant to be a bonsai.


Juniper Replanted
I replant the tree in a 5 gallon container, which I've cut down. The planting mix, 50% decomposed granite and 50" pine bark sieved to about 1/8" (.3cm), is about 6" (15cm) deep. I tilt up what will become the main trunk. This year I'll let the plant rest. Next year I'll begin aerial rooting some of the large branches to make some other bonsai.
Posted by Chuck at 21:31:05 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |
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