Autumn Pine Refinement Continues

The philosophy of continuous improvement is a core focus for any serious bonsai practitioner. 

The Japanese word 'Kaizen' ( 改善) represents this deep seated ideology in the bonsai world.

Year in year out we strive to improve our trees; adding to, and building on previous years of work is a never ending labour to achieve that elusive 'prefect imperfection' we see in the masterpieces of those Japanese masters we all follow. 

Autumn and Winter are very busy times at The Australian Bonsai Gallery.  The work done at this time is determinant of the future improvement of any bonsai. This is the focus of our student workshops over Autumn/Winter. 

The old Mikawa Japanese Black Pine featured in this article, is one that I feel, has improved significantly this Autumn. Smaller needles and improved ramification, as well as the all important Japanese notion of Ma (間) - the deliberate 'emptiness' or 'vacant space' between branch layers.

Check out the short clip at the bottom of this article for a 360 degree view of the recent work.