Page 13 - BSAM 2016 Q4

This Juniperus chinensis, titled Dragon in the Sky, was started in 1988. The top right photo is from 2010, the photo at the bottom is from 2015.
Shaping with bending and carving
Therefore, I am particular about shaping, with techniques such as lightly bending, cutting or re- shaping the branches, and with the silk ber method of carving skills, so that the branches are in the shape of crane singing, or in the shape of dragon exposing its bones. e branches twist, sit up, swing, dive or grow up. I feel this is di erent from normal bonsai and incorporated with new meanings throughout the years, my bonsai creations have become the best way to showcase life and art. For example, using this "contrarian exercise" approach on an approximately 60-year-old Juniperus chinensis, a er 20 to 30 years of cultivation and carving, I have created on the bonsai, the look of a thousand-year-old tree that has gone through many hardships and displays the beauty of nature.
April/May/June 2017 | BCI | 11