RAJE

There were some intensive bonsai-days! In Tuesday morning I had a lecture about bonsai at high school in Novo mesto and I figured out that even high school students can be interested in to bonsai if one can present the art with proper attitude. In the afternoon Gorazd came by, we did a first steps in to bonsai world.  

Nekaj intenzivnih bonsajskih dni je spet za mano. V torek dopoldne sem predaval na gimnaziji v Novem mestu in ugotovil, da so ob pravem pristopu bonsaji lahko zanimivi tudi za dijake. Popoldne je na tečaj prišel Gorazd; na rdečem boru sva napravila prve korake v bonsajski svet.

Gorazd working on Pinus sylvestris

Yesterday afternoon was very interesting again. Business director of TORA Rajko came in to atelier ;-) ! First he was concentrating on his other hobby - photographing - and he documented everything from all different corners (you can already see his pictures at his blog http://bonsajiblog.blogspot.com/), after that he also intervened in to bonsai teaching, of course. 

Včerajšnje popoldne pa je bilo na sploh zanimivo. V ateljeju se je namreč oglasil poslovni direktor TORA Rajko ;-) ! Najprej se je posvetil svojemu drugemu hobiju - fotografiranju - in dogajanje dokumentiral iz vseh možnih kotov (slike že lahko občudujete na njegovem blogu http://bonsajiblog.blogspot.com/), potem pa seveda posegel tudi v bonsajsko dogajanje.

Intensive studying

This was a session dedicated to defoliation of Prunus mahaleb. Janez and Matej defoliated their trees, Janez's got it's first form at one of the winter sessions in atelier. Matej's Prunus is something special - it grows from rock! Both are still in developing phase, but based on experiences with this species we can expect a nice result in just a year or two.

Sicer pa je tokratna seansa minila v znamenju razlistanja rešelik. Janez in Matej sta svoji rešeliki razlistala, Janezova je osnovno obliko dobila na eni od zimskih srečanj v ateljeju, Matejeva pa je nekaj posebnega - raste iz kamna! Obe sta seveda še v fazi razvoja, toda glede na izkušnje s to vrsto, lahko že v letu ali dveh pričakujemo lepe rezultate. 

Still developing the top brunch, but coming out nicely

Excentrik tree growing from a rock

Tomaž and Miha were also here, Roland solved some problems on his juniper, Janez also did a first step on his yew. Afternoon was over in the blink of the eye, TORA group is working at full power!

Tu sta bila tudi Tomaž in Miha, Roland je rešil nekaj problemov na svojem brinu, Janez je napravil tudi prvi korak na tisi. Skratka popoldne je spet minilo kot blisk, TORA deluje s polno paro!

GREMO DALJE

Things are getting back to normal after EBA convention, TORA group had its weekly session again. Roland worked on details on his Juniper, Miha did a first selection of branches on his Prunus.

Stvari se po konvenciji EBA postavljajo v normalne okvirje, svoje običajno tedensko srečanje je imela tudi skupina TORA. Roland je delal na podrobnostih na brinu, Miha je na rešeliki opravil prvo selekcijo vej.

Afternoon turned into a pleasant spring evening, atelier moved also outside. When Matej joined us at some nice talking, the evening was almost perfect.

Popoldne se je prevesilo v prijeten spomladanski večer, atelje je svoje delovanje razširil na zunanji prostor. Ko se nam je na debati pridružil še Matej, je bil večer skoraj popoln.

Oh yes. I wired a new shoots on literati pine, cut some needles, the tree is getting closer to its goal. The definition of the crown is better and better, one year of proper work can really do a great things on a tree.

Saj res. Ožičil sem novo rast na boru literati, odstranil nekaj iglic in drevo počasi napreduje proti cilju. Definicija krošnje je vse boljša, leto dni se ob pravem delu na drevesu zelo pozna.

ZVEZDE

I am still deep breathing. After two years of intensive work time for bills has come. EBA 2012 is over. We can be proud of our work and almost everyone who was attending an exhibition in hotel Mons is satisfied too. There is no point to be in a bad mood because of things that is not anther your control.

But anyway. More I am coming familiar with the "jet set" of bonsai more disappointed I am. I can not believe, that this is possible. With all this "stars" there is nothing about bonsai, nothing about enjoying in creativity but only their ego, who will talk bad things about other, who is more important, who is the best, who is smarter, who is more beautiful ... You can be also so important, that you even don't come to say hello ... THIS IS NOT THE ESSENCE OF BONSAI, BOYS! Can you please forget your ego for a while, can you please behave as normal human being and can you start to enjoy in bonsai? I am not impressed by your last name, but by your attitude towards people, your behavior.

Še vedno zajemam sapo. Po dveh letih intenzivnega dela je zdaj čas za obračune. EBA 2012 je za nami. Lahko smo ponosni na delo, ki smo ga opravili in zadovoljnih je tudi velika večina vseh, ki so bili z nami v Monsu. Zaradi stvari, na katere nimaš vpliva, se nima smisla sekirat.

Pa vendarle. Vedno bolj, ko spoznavam t.i. "smetano" bonsajizma, bolj sem razočaran, enostavno ne morem verjeti, da je to mogoče. Da pri vseh teh "zvezdnikih" ni v ospredju bonsajizem, uživanje v ustvarjanju, ampak zgolj njihov ego, kdo bo koga bolj popljuval, kdo je pomembnejši, kdo je boljši, kdo je pametnejši, lepši ... Da si tako pomemben, da se ti ne zdi vredno niti priti pozdravit. TO NI BISTVO BONSAJIZMA FANTJE! Pozabite že enkrat na svoj ego, obnašajte se normalno in uživajte v tem kar počnete. Name ne napravi vtis vaš priimek, temveč vaš odnos do ljudi, vaše obnašanje.

I realized, that there is no country without bonsai people being divided into clans, arguing over who in this world is the only one right and who is a moron. Except one little oasis. I am really proud on our little Slovenia. On our artists who are just enjoying what they are doing. Because we don't care of naturalistic or Japanese style, because we don't care who will be in the spot light at the stage, because we don't care who gets the award, we just enjoy the award together, because we just step together and together we can do such things as we did this weekend - we can organize one of the biggest bonsai events in the Europe. And because we care only about the trees!

Spoznal sem, da v bistvu ni države, v kateri bonsaisti ne bi bili razdeljeni na klane, bili med sabo na smrt sprti in se prepirali kdo edini na tem svetu ima prav in kdo je butec. Razen ene male oaze sredi tega razburkanega morja. Zato sem še bolj ponosen na našo malo Slovenijo. Na slovenske bonsajiste, ki zgolj uživamo v tem, kar delamo. Ker nam ni mar ne za naravni ali japonski slog, ker nam ni mar za to, kdo bo bolj blestel na odru, ker nam ni mar za to, kdo dobi nagrado, ampak se je z njim vsi veselimo, ker skupaj poprimemo za delo in znamo s skupnimi močmi napraviti to, kar smo pretekli konec tedna - organizirati enega največjih bonsajskih dogodkov v Evropi. In zato, ker nam je mar edino za drevesa!   

P.S.: Roland, I am also proud of you, you did a great job!

P.S.: Roland, ponosen sem tudi nate, dobro si se odrezal!

Together we can do a great things!

REDI

OK, the preparations are almost over. As organizer of EBA convention I had a really lot of work lately. But I also managed to prepare two of my trees for show. So my entries are the Pelican and the Old lady:

OK, priprave so skoraj končane. Kot organizator konvencije EBA sem imel zadnje čase res veliko dela. Pa mi je vseeno uspelo pripraviti tudi dve moji drevesi. Na ogled bosta Pelikan in Stara dama:

Welcome!

Dobrodošli v Monsu ta konec tedna!