Indoor Bonsai - Think TREE

Welcome Back to Indoor Bonsai for Beginners!

In preparation for our journey into the art of bonsai I popped in my old VHS tape of "The Karate Kid" this past week. Yes yes....I do STILL have a VHS player and it still works! I watched the movie and felt my heart soaring back to my teenage years watching a young, awkward boy from Jersey named Daniel build a bond with an old and wise karate master from Okinawa named Mr. Miyagi.

I was instantly drawn in by the scene where Daniel visits Mr. Miyagi to thank him for fixing his bike.



Mr. Miyagi invites Daniel to give it a try and Daniel is afraid he is going to mess it up. So, Mr. Miyagi sits Daniel down and tells him to close eye (ok...close his eyes...couldn't resist) and concentrate. "Think only tree...make a perfect picture down to last pine needle...wipe from mind everything but tree. Nothing exists in whole world but tree. You got it? Ok open eye...remember picture? Make like picture. Just trust picture...if it come from inside of you always right tree" So Daniel awkwardly begins to trim his juniper focusing on making his vision come to life.

So now it's your turn...close eye...er I mean close your eyes and think about the word tree. In your mind see your tree down to the last pine needle...nothing but tree...got it? Ok...make your juniper look like your picture.

Seriously - this does work for most people. However, if you are still having difficulty coming up with a shape for your indoor bonsai tree...take a look at the following gallery of bonsai trees for inspiration.



The AiKi-Bonsai Center in Italy has some beautiful bonsai examples here:



Are you getting a clearer picture in your mind? It never hurts to have an actual picture to go off of. In fact many of those who are master bonsai artists draw images before creating their bonsai trees.



So now think tree....only tree.....nothing exists in the whole world except tree....got it? Good...let's make your juniper look like the bonsai tree in your mind.