On Sunday, November 23rd we had the 4th Advanced Bonsai Study Group meeting with the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati.  This was the 2nd meeting with Ted Matson as the teacher of record.

Ted is a great guy.  He's extremely knowledgeable about a large variety of trees.  I spent my day working on a number of Japanese Black Pines and a Dwarf Scots Pine.  Pulling needles and arranging branches was the order of the day.

There were a number of other trees from the other participants.  There were a number of pines, junipers, yews, etc.  

Here Ted Matson and Dave Billings work on a Ponderosa Pine:  

Ted reviews a Parsons Juniper:  

The Cincinnati Advanced Bonsai Study Group met last weekend at the Civic Garden Center.  Suthin, the group mentor, started off with a discussion on next steps.  Proper black and white pine candle techniques and maple ramification were discussed in the morning, followed by a lot of work on the trees by the individual participants. 

It was at this meeting that Suthin announced that he would not be able to complete the remaining sessions with the study group due to personal reasons.  The group has already made arrangments for Ted Matson to take over as group mentor.  We all wish Suthin well in his ventures and look forward to working with Ted in the very near future.

The first meeting of the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati Advanced Bonsai Study Group was this past weekend.  In my opinion it was a complete success.  Our Sunday group met promptly at 9am at the Krohn Conservatory.  All 9 of the "students" brought 3 or more trees to work on.  There was an assortment of Japanese Black Pine, junipers, crab apples, and many more.

The participants were all members of the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati.  Of those members were the Cincinnati club president (Don Brown), Dayton club president (Dave Billings), and Louisville club president (me).  Other members were from Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Lexington Kentucky, and elsewhere.  Cincinnati seems to always have a good draw as they are always doing new and interesting things.  The Advanced Study Group is certainly no exception.

Here is the result of 8 hours of trimming and wiring.  More work is already planned for the next meeting in May.

This weekend will mark the first meeting of the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati Advanced Study Group.  The study group consists of two groups of 8 students who meet on either Saturday or Sunday.  Each group will meet 4 times a year for 3 years with the group mentor, Suthin Sukosolvisit.  I will be a part of the Sunday group.  I'm very excited about the first meeting.

Each group member brought 3 or more trees last fall for approval by a committee.  Here are those that I will be working with over the next 3 years.  I hope to include pictures showing the progression here on the blog.

Buttonwood
Japanese Black Pine
Japanese Black Pine
Ponderosa Pine