Before and after by Salvador De Loy Reyes. He calls it The Monk, but gives no other information, including no species (looks a lot like a Shimpaku juniper) or details of any kind, though you might guess it was originally field grown and purposely twisted to look like an old Japanese yamadori (bonsai collected from the wild). Without seeing the other side of the tree, it's almost impossible to follow the live veins in their delightfully chaotic movement up the trunk

Yesterday’s post featured three trees that were ready to be reviewed and retouched by Salvador De Los Reyes. Today it’s a before and after by Salvador. The kind of before and after we often refer to as maintenance, where an already established bonsai is brought back to (or beyond) its previous splendor after a period of unfettered growth (benign neglect). Often this requires trimming, some wiring, and cleaning and highlighting the deadwood and live veins (we featured another maintenance B&A with a delightful play of live and dead wood, just the the other day).

Before. It's all there. Just waiting for someone with the skill and some time on their hands to bring it back to what you see just below

After. I love the way the live veins standout against the deadwood. Together they created a puzzling abstraction. Not exactly like a tree you would find in nature. Especially with the wood cleaned up and enhanced this way