Bonsai exhibition on August 24, 25 and 26:

'Little' big trees on show

M A Pemasiri

A large collection of high quality bonsai plants created by members of The Sri Lanka Bonsai Association will be on display at their annual exhibition 'Reflections - 2012' at the National Art Gallery from tomorrow to Sunday.

Demonstrations in Sinhala and English will be on Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 4pm.

Japanese ambassador to Sri Lanka Nobuhito Hobo and his wife will open the exhibition tomorrow at 10.30am.

Bonsai can be a horticultural challenge to a plant lover, but for someone with an artistic touch, bonsai can be an excellent medium to keep on exploring

When the artistic forms of bonsai trees are displayed at exhibitions, many get a desire to try out creating a bonsai. A beginner, could be a little nervous of some of the techniques used, but in no time, one can gain confidence as he or she sees how the trees respond to the training.

With growing confidence, new ideas can be experimented, some will succeed, and some may fail. But, with each failure, you will learn, how to go ahead with the task of creating a "sculpture" out of a "living specimen".

We are surrounded by trees in all sorts of shapes and forms. These form the basis of inspiration for a bonsai artist. If you are to succeed in bonsai, you should keep gazing at the trees, study them and analyse their structure so that you will be able to reproduce realistic images of the trees in miniature.

Bonsai can be a horticultural challenge to a plant lover, but for someone with an artistic touch, bonsai can be an excellent medium to keep on exploring where there will be no limit to creative achievements.

What matters in a bonsai, is the true quality of the specimen. How beautiful it is? , How natural it looks? It is the beauty of form, colour and texture, which matters. It is a fact that the beauty of the tree will improve with the length of time it had been trained as a bonsai. But unless the basic form is of quality, ageing itself will not make it, a good bonsai.

A good thing with bonsai is that you can keep on changing or modifying the structure or the form, if you desire in doing so. As it is an artwork which is never finished, you can keep on working with it over the years, where you can get immense satisfaction.

The size of a bonsai is not an important factor. Many believe that the larger the bonsai, better it is, which is not true. It is also assumed that bigger bonsai are more difficult to create, which also not true.

It can be argued that, a mini or mame bonsai will require more patience and skills to create and maintain, because same aesthetic standards have to be achieved with fewer and smaller elements.

Having one or two quality bonsai plants in your balcony can be as rewarding as having a large collection of bonsai trees in a well spread garden. Creating a bonsai and maintaining it, watching it going through the changes with time is an experience which you cannot just explain. It is worth trying.