Custom Designed Scroll for Bonsai Exhibition

 Bonsai Artist friends! Do one of these scrolls look familiar? A bonsai artist came to me and asked for help to develop his idea to display his bonsai. He wanted a distant mountain or cliff in a painting to use with his Rocky Mountain Juniper. So I scoured for photos of actual scenes in the Rocky Mountains. I knew his tree would be placed on the left, because of its natural flow to the right. In Japanese this is 左勝って右流れ (hidari Katte, Migi Nagare). So I was looking specifically for a cliff or mountain that continued and complimented the flow to the right to coincide with the movement of the bonsai. It also clued me off to where the Hanko or artist stamp should be placed. I finally found a photo of a locale in New Mexico, and checked if this would be correct geographically for a Rocky Mountain Juniper, and aha, I found it.

This was then sent to Mariusz Szmerdt to make the painting. I know his skills as a Sumi artist, and he could have made every crack and crag with such precision and detail, but that would have detracted from the display because a detailed painting competes with the bonsai in many cases. I wanted this wallscroll to be a truly supporting actor role in the display. The first two iterations were good, but I thought that they might be too small, to work with this particular tree. I asked him to do one last version slightly larger with a little more detail. He then shipped the final three versions.

I also requested that the bonsai artist provide me with detailed information on the dimensions of the display space and the colors of the backgrounds that would be used. This was vital for me to try and get the size of the scrolls just right and select appropriate cloth colors/patterns that would sit well in the background.

The most worrisome thing about this is that normally, I get a painting from this artist in about 2 weeks....but three weeks had passed away and still no painting. I called the USPS, the NY customs branch and finally had to call the Regional USPS office in order to get this painting here. It took me over four hours of time negotiating with the USPS to get the painting here on time. As soon as it came, I started making the scrolls.

I made the scrolls based upon the formality of the species and styles of the bonsai, as well as how a specific style would bring out the feel of each painting. The less detailed and smaller version painting, I decided to go with a less formal scroll style called Maru Hyougu. I used a solid Benberugu cloth that is rust sand color, with a gold on white Ichimonji. I used a Light Gold Hanging string and a rosewood jikusaki. For the more detailed slightly larger cliff, I decided to put it in a three step style scroll. There was a slight green in the Ichimonji, with a brown on glold large arabesque design. The Chuumawashi is a Shiha cloth with a small arabesque to offset the larger design in the Ichimonji. The Ten/Chi is a Benberugu cloth with a dry reed/khaki color. It was finished with a light gold hanging string and a Chanuri (Brown Lacquer) jikusaki.

Dimensions of the first scroll as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	107	12.76
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	14	1.67
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	60	7.16
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	168.5	20.10
柱	Pillars	3.5	0.42
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	8	0.95
地	Chi	55	6.56
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	67	7.99
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	352.5	42.05

Dimensions of the Second Scroll as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	86	10.26
上中廻し	Ue Chuumawashi	30	3.58
上一文字	Ue Ichimonji	11	1.31
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	76	9.07
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	182	21.71
柱	Pillars	5	0.60
下一文字	Shita Ichimonji	7	0.84
下中廻し	Shita Chuumawashi	20	2.39
地	Chi	45	5.37
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	86	10.26
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	370	44.14

Now do you know where you have seen this scroll?