Time to stop Horsing Around!

Happy (if very belated) New Year to one and all and welcome to 2014.  This year promises new beginnings and opportunities but no resolutions; I’m getting too old for that sort of malarkey!

2013 was a bit of a mixed bag for me and my family but all in all I’m quite happy to see the back of it, well at least the last few months anyway.  What started off well soon tailed off into chaos and disappointment caused by a few nameless individuals.  Lessons were learned the hard way in some cases but you really do find out who will stand by you in troubled times.  Thanks to all who helped keep me sane and out of trouble, true friend indeed.

So, it’s time to get “back on the horse” which is quite apt for 2014 really.  With a new kitchen and ceramics/bonsai workshop up and running in the next few weeks and with Swindon and Willowbog not too far away plenty to keep me busy if very, very tired.  I shouldn’t complain really but why not stick at what I’m good at!

Keep well everyone and I look forward to catching up with many of you in my travels,
Love, Peace & Bananas, Simon

Natural Flux – Novocaine for my Soul!

I’d really been looking forward to this event since I heard “Rumours” of it happening and I wasn’t to be disappointed. Having seen release pictures on t’internet my interest had been really fired up but it did little to prepare me for what I was about to see. Respected Bonsai Artist Steve Tolley trades under the name “4 dimensional art” with the 4th dimension being time, Natural Flux proved to be a “must see” 3 dimensional exhibition because the photos that I had seen didn’t do the exhibits justice. As many of my trees can easily be flattered by 2D photography to look much better than they really are, the “real life” experience of the exhibition made the photos I’d seen look flat and lifeless! 

Some of the trees themselves were not really of a Show standard but I think that that was sort of the point. The Beech in the “hill” pot by John Pitt was slender and elegant but lacked ramification and structure but still looked delightful. Each composition was thought provoking and elegant in its own way. I was very, very taken with the Rabbit Foot fern that seemed to have “evolved” on a stack of rusty industrial cogs – very natural, very real. My “star” of the Show was the Star Jasmine in its Clare Wakefield pot, totally orgasmic! Now, I hate to single any of the artists out for praise (as some of them are my closest friends) but I’d love to see some of Clare’s pots in a conventional Bonsai Show and see the reaction to them amongst the Bonsai Community.  Here's a link - Enjoy! naturalfluxbonsai

So to close – Peter, you have been very brave and it seems that you have finally “scratched that itch” that has been bugging you for a while and boy have you. What you have brought us is a new, refreshing and thought provoking look at the art that we all love so much. Seen by many as the “quite man of Bonsai" it was fantastic to see you working the room as you were so in YOUR zone. Words of congratulation do not seem enough somehow as your event raised my spirit and my soul after what has been a trying and painful (literally) few weeks. Thank you my friend and may Natural Flux be the start of your star in ascendancy!

SUTEKI Trees & Accents at Heathrow Show

Last weekend it was my first “proper” chance to fly solo since CKB last year and also the first outing for the Shiten Bonsai Society (SBS) and as this was our first assignment, we wanted to make it look good! Although the largest contingent of trees belonged to Sensei Storey I did chip in a couple of previously unseen trees and had free rein as to the layout of the display which was a really buzz. 

You’ll find the trees posted HERE on the SBS Blog. It’s no Accent-dent that I’m using this post to share some of the plantings that caught my eye. It has been expressed in some circles that the quality of the companion plantings/compositions have really risen in the last few years and I would agree - well mostly, as we did have a wee giggle at on Accent displayed behind a very, very large tree. I hope that you enjoy these little beauties as much as I did! 

Appetite for Destruction

You may have noticed that I’ve (again) been off of the radar but this time for a good reason – Mass Destruction!! 

The Suteki “Shed” is no more and makes way for our new “Glass Extension” - posh way of saying a Conservatory. This will house our new kitchen and dining room allowing us a proper grown up Lounge and Utility room/new Workshop. No more out in the cold and dark to pot my trees or to make my pots and it will still have a fridge (as it is the “old” Kitchen) for m’beer. Mmmmmm, beer good! 

Here’s an artist’s impression of the extension which will have some of our new “toys” including my set of Bugatti kitchen scales, a Porsche designed sink (hopefully) and some of our funky new furniture. Progress photos will be uploaded as and when. Enjoy!

Shiten Bonsai Society: 2 become 1

Shiten Bonsai Society: 2 become 1
This could explain a lot!

Times, they are a’changing

Finally, free of my shackles of Club leadership I’m now free to do what I want any ol’time and get down on it! Since my “strings have been cut” from the evil grown up baby* it’s time to stand by for action and put myself, and family, in pole position for a change.



Anything could happen in the next half hour!



Don’t get me wrong, I truly LOVED my time at the helm of the Maidstone Bonsai Society but I need a break from the Club scene to help re-charge my batteries and work on my Shiten trees and accent plantings. With the Magical Bonsai Accents Show happening again in 2014 I really need to up my game both in plantings and my SUTEKI pots and hopefully once our extension I’ll get some “Si Time” (nothing like Hammer time!) and get this party started!

(*very much like the Evil Monkey that lives in Chris’s wardrobe in Family Guy)

Bonsai is about the Journey, not just the destination!

During my Bonsai Journey, I've been lucky enough to have met, and studied, under some Bonsai Folk.  Here's a few early photos of some of the one's I've met - can you guess who's who?

Rick, Vivian, Neil and Mike, "Young Ones", I'll let you decide who's who!

Love the Lumber Jack jacket!

This will be a Gold Medal Winner before you know it

What a "talent" we have here

....... and more "talent"

This man doesn't like "pissing the birds off" especially in Northumberland

2 Bonsai Gods for the price of 1 - the one on the right winning a scholarship!

Before he got Tango'd and grew long arms - LOL

The quite one's are the ones to watch - true bonsai hero to me

F**k me, a local lad!!

................. and finally a nicer bloke you couldn't meet