Ryan Neil interview of Bill Valavanis

Fi5ch

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As a beginner its hard for me to get a lot from guys like RN & BV who are working on exquisite yamadori or 50 year old maples. I love their work but it rarely translates to my 4 year old JBP seedlings and 1/4" thick Acers.
 

markyscott

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As a beginner its hard for me to get a lot from guys like RN & BV who are working on exquisite yamadori or 50 year old maples. I love their work but it rarely translates to my 4 year old JBP seedlings and 1/4" thick Acers.
Most of Bill’s trees are not yamadori. Many of his most famous trees have been grown from seed or cutting, others from air layer and others from garden stock. There is a tremendous amount for all of us to learn by studying the progression of his trees over the past 50+ years.

S
 
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Vance Wood

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I found this riveting. I’ve seen and heard from Ryan Neil a lot, but have heard and seen less of Mr Valavanis. Seems to be genuine respect amongst these two.

Bill Valavanis is one of the most senior members of the Bonsai community in the US. He's a great guy.
 

LanceMac10

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As a beginner its hard for me to get a lot from guys like RN & BV who are working on exquisite yamadori or 50 year old maples. I love their work but it rarely translates to my 4 year old JBP seedlings and 1/4" thick Acers.


Find this book and you'll see some amazing progressions....

 

markyscott

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Find this book and you'll see some amazing progressions....

This is perhaps my favorite book by Bill because I’ve learned so much by studying the progressions it contains (and I have quite a few). I believe it’s out of print, but I recommend it frequently and it’s my hope that he will one day see sufficient demand for a second printing (or even a second edition with more progressions...!).

- S
 

Fi5ch

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It is out of print and apparently not available anywhere at this time, other than in the collection of a few bonsai clubs and large city libraries.
 

BrianBay9

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Thanks for the bump. I missed that first time around.
 

arjun

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As a beginner its hard for me to get a lot from guys like RN & BV who are working on exquisite yamadori or 50 year old maples. I love their work but it rarely translates to my 4 year old JBP seedlings and 1/4" thick Acers.
Have you watched any of Ryan Neil's Mirai live videos?!? He has a section there just for beginners and uses nursery stock....
 

Fi5ch

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Yes, Ryan's 10 part beginner series was very helpful. Don't get me wrong, I love reading and watching all work whether beginner or highly advanced as I can learn from everything, but most content seems to focus on pre-bonsai with at least 5-10 years of progress.
 

Maiden69

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The thing with Ryan's videos that I believe a lot of people are missing is all the information that he is sharing within that video that he is working on that 5-10 year pre-bonsai. The streams are recorded live, and members that have little to no experience ask questions. The easy ones are fielded by the members in the chat, the hard ones are asked to Ryan were he gives his answer, and the reasoning behind it. The one thing that I haven't found a lot of information there has been about growing/developing trees in the ground, but if you listen to his Asymmetry podcast there are a few podcasts with Randy Knight and the Telperion Farm owners were they go into detail on the subject.

I signed up for the 7 day free trial, thinking that I was just going to get a lot of material that I wasn't going to be able to use and cancel my subscription. It's been 6 months since then and there are hundreds of videos that I haven't seen yet. Forums are awesome, but I am a visual learner, seeing how the techniques are done is far more effective than reading them. That's why I love Markyscott and Mach5 threads... they go into detail, but the volume of detailed pictures help to depict what they are typing.

I don't know if it is the same content as the video, but here is teh podcast with Bill.

Just went to the youtube video, they have the same time stamp, so they are probably the same.
 
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If you are looking for beginner's information, I've published 164 printed issues during the past 42 of International BONSAI. Each issue is like a mini lesson on a specific topic, style or species.
100 different back copies are still available at the link below.

In order to advance classical bonsai art to a broader world-wide audience I have decide to suspend the printed edition and expand my offerings with the introduction of International BONSAI OnLine, which is a FREE digital bi-monthly magazine. International BONSAI OnLine will continue with the high standards of quality we have introduced to English language bonsai magazines, and continues to be the first and only professional bonsai magazine published in the United States. You can check it out at the link below and even subscribe FREE!
www.internationalbonsaionline.com

You might also like to check out my blog which always has lots of good photos and information as well.
www.valavanisbonsaiblog.com
 

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Brad in GR

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If you are looking for beginner's information, I've published 164 printed issues during the past 42 of International BONSAI. Each issue is like a mini lesson on a specific topic, style or species.
100 different back copies are still available at the link below.

In order to advance classical bonsai art to a broader world-wide audience I have decide to suspend the printed edition and expand my offerings with the introduction of International BONSAI OnLine, which is a FREE digital bi-monthly magazine. International BONSAI OnLine will continue with the high standards of quality we have introduced to English language bonsai magazines, and continues to be the first and only professional bonsai magazine published in the United States. You can check it out at the link below and even subscribe FREE!
www.internationalbonsaionline.com

You might also like to check out my blog which always has lots of good photos and information as well.
www.valavanisbonsaiblog.com
Bill, enjoyed your presentation for the west Michigan bonsai club this week. Fantastic!
 

Carol 83

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If you are looking for beginner's information, I've published 164 printed issues during the past 42 of International BONSAI. Each issue is like a mini lesson on a specific topic, style or species.
100 different back copies are still available at the link below.

In order to advance classical bonsai art to a broader world-wide audience I have decide to suspend the printed edition and expand my offerings with the introduction of International BONSAI OnLine, which is a FREE digital bi-monthly magazine. International BONSAI OnLine will continue with the high standards of quality we have introduced to English language bonsai magazines, and continues to be the first and only professional bonsai magazine published in the United States. You can check it out at the link below and even subscribe FREE!
www.internationalbonsaionline.com

You might also like to check out my blog which always has lots of good photos and information as well.
www.valavanisbonsaiblog.com
I printed off my first copy of the online issue at work, lol. Just started reading, and it's awesome. Thank you so much for making this great resource available and for free! FYI, received my second Momo No Haru today, in perfect shape!
 
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