I’ve just joined the community and I’m pretty exicted with the cuantity and quality of material I am finding.
I live in Spain, I am 48 years old and just started doing bonsai 3 years ago and haven’t attended any courses so I am in a beginers tier with some practice but not willing to put me in the intermediate leves yet.
Here what I’ve doing the most is experimenting with wild olive, an olive yamadori material extracted mainly from orchard fields but also wilder areas near them tipicaly at ditches. I am really fascinated with this species , it realy reflects most of the cultural heritage of our culture in my land in the alicante province, a mediterranean province with many rocky mountains.
The first videos I’ve watched are those 2 styling an olive stump. It is the kind of material I was looking for, the knowledge conveyed in those 2 videos has helped me a lot for this kind of matierial, in fact I have one I didn`t know how to tacle.
Anyhowthere where some things Ryan said I can merit some further talk.
NATURAL STATE OF AN OLIVE
As Ryan said the images of ancient olives you will find are always field gron cultivates trees for agricultural purposes theis shape is not natural at all. Generaly when growing in fields with ground it will produce just bushes with multiple trunks creating a semi sphere of about 4m tall.
WHERE DO THEY GROW
As mentioned it will be typical to find them in fileds and sorrounding areas but they also grow in our harsh, rocky, dry mountains near the mediterranean an there is where they can produce this amazing shapes fighting with a poor soil, draught, extreme heat in winter and cold and even snow at the mountain top, goats eating their leaves and twigs.
MALLORCAN ULLASTRE (olea silvestris)
This last is the kind of enviroment for the Mallocan Ullastre the peaks of Tramuntana Sierra. The grow inbetween rocks twisted and thanks to the harsh conditions they develope a very singular kind of bark with its caractheristique button like pattern.
I leave here a video of the very renownd bonsai artis German Gomez from Valencia,a many times winner of the Trophy Award with his Olives. I gives an indepth explanation of the enviroment and cultivation of olives.
you can put generated subtitles translated into english.
I would like to continue this conversation with more examples of my own practice as an amateur and other artists hera aswell as olvies in nature for your inspiration.