Bonsai Open

[Ryceman3]

Great shots Watto, I always appreciate it when people take the time to put up pics of their local shows... thanks for posting!

[Watto]

A few more.

[Watto]

A couple more, tell me when you have had enough.

[MJL]

Yep, thanks very much for posting all these photos, excellent to see. Seems like a hotbed of creativity at this show! Among numerous highlights, I really like that last photo. A twin trunk pine of some sort, I think.

[Boics]

Fantastic!
Great mix of "left of centre" designs, traditional shapes and natives.
Well done to all!

[Watto]

Mark, the species are in the photo titles, and the twin trunk is a Japanese black pine.
A few more....

[Rory]

Great photos Watto. Keep them coming!

[GavinG]

Thanks for the photos, they give a good impression of the event. I thought that there is a very interesting mind behind 24 Juniper, and 31 Agonis was also very fine.

Good to see the C. subulatus Doing it's Thing.

Gavin

[melbrackstone]

Thanks for all the pics Ken and Watto. I've never heard of a Mistletoe Fig....off to do some research now!

[sreeve]

Hi Watto,
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post your pictures.

It was great to see you and so many other fantastic bonsai people together again.

When we conceived the Bonsai Open the intent was to achieve three primary objectives:
• Raise the general community’s awareness of bonsai as a beautiful art that is within reach of everybody
• Provide an avenue or opportunity for bonsai artists to gather, share time and friendships that had no boundaries limited by clubs or the like
• If possible, grow our club, particularly with young people as they are the future of bonsai.

Surprisingly, some in the bonsai community rejected and dismissed the idea for a variety of reasons.

Thankfully the majority of the bonsai community embraced the concept which is fantastic.

To see so many people together comparing ideas, concepts, debating aesthetics and considering how to improve bonsai was a boon.
It’s what we hoped and dreamed about.

Our club, like many others have a monthly bench competition where members can gauge how they are comparing against their peers. How they can improve, techniques they can implement etc etc.
In this way our club’s bonsai has improved over the years.

The Bonsai Open went one step further. We were no longer comparing to ourselves and getting a false sense of security, we were comparing against the best of the best.

I am very conscious of the need for security and confidentiality as requested by many of our guest entrants.
However, I can declare without exposing anyone that none of the Central Coast club trees came in 1st, 2nd or 3rd position.

We clearly have some opportunity to improve even though we have some excellent artists in the club.

The Bonsai Open allowed every entrant to compare their trees against the best of the best.

I am hopeful that next year will be bigger and better.

In terms of bonsai, I love NSW and the Queenslanders are pretty good, but I think we are currently overshadowed by the Victorians.
I don’t want to mention names but would love to see some of the Victorian trees next year side by side with the best in NSW and QLD.

Let’s see what happens over the coming months.

To those who entered – congratulations and thanks.
Irrespective of where you came in the competition, you are a winner in my mind.

For those who came from far away, thanks for making the journey. I hope the continuous demonstrations, ample vendors and the facilities made it all worthwhile.

Until next time, I have a couple of photos to add to yours Watto. These photos have been taken by Chris Allen and John Cavey.

Best Regards
Steve

Open First Prize EM1A7465.jpg

Open Second Prize EM1A7471.jpg

Open Third prize edit EM1A7474.jpg

Advanced First Prize and Best Aus Native EM1A7482.jpg

Advanced Second prize EM1A7493.jpg

Advanced Third prize EM1A7500.jpg

Intermediate First Prize EM1A7526.jpg

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