Posts Tagged Bonsai

Bonsai Album icon

Aug 16

Posted by Andrew in apps, bonsai | Comments off

Bonsai Album Icon

Over the weekend I completed the icon for my forthcoming app, Bonsai Album. I hope it proves to be suitably eye-catching in the crowded App Store!

Code-wise, I’m implementing the last few features, including the iPad interface and backup/restore over WiFi. The app should be feature-complete by late next week, with the Beta test to follow soon after. If you’re interested in participating in the Beta test, or would like to be notified when the app launches, you can sign-up for email announcements via the Bonsai Album website.

For more information about Bonsai Album, see my earlier blog post, or visit the Bonsai Album Facebook page.

PS – If you’re in the Chicago area and you’re either curious about Bonsai, or you’re a Bonsai aficionado, head over to the Chicago Botanic Garden this weekend for the 34th Annual Mid-America Bonsai Show. If you’d like to try your hand at Bonsai, there are still workshops available according to the Midwest Bonsai Society website. Places are limited, so sign-up fast!

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Prairie State Bonsai Show 2011

Jul 16

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Prairie State Bonsai Show

If you live in the Chicagoland area, and you’re either into Bonsai (those little trees) or you’re curious about it, there’s a Bonsai show on this weekend at Morton Arboretum (near highway 88 and 355) that’s well worth a visit.

We attended today, and were most impressed. Some of the displays left a bit to be desired in previous years (trees on tables by the windows, with some glare and distractions from outside), but they did a great job this year! Nearly all the trees were setup on high tables away from the windows, with nice backing and accent plants. They had a good variety of trees, and encouraged visitors to vote for their favourite tree.

It’s a small show, but still worth a visit. The bonsai vendors had a decent selection, too. Alas, my budget this year is tight and I left empty-handed. There’s always the August show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens 🙂

I also attended the afternoon demonstration where one of the members worked on a large pine. That was quite informative, and the crowd seemed engaged and could follow what the presenter was doing.

The show runs all day on July 16th-17th. I’m hoping the continued success of the show will encourage the Arboretum to one day acquire their own collection and give the Chicago Botanic Garden some friendly competition. It’s surprising that a garden that prides itself on its full-size trees doesn’t yet have their own Bonsai collection! That said, I highly recommend visiting Morton Arboretum just to take in the astounding variety of trees and landscaping. The autumn colour is especially spectacular!

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Announcing Bonsai Album for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Jun 23

Posted by Andrew in apps, bonsai | Comments off

Bonsai Album

Now that I’ve released some updates to both Artwork Tracker and Story Tracker, my thoughts turn to new projects on the iOS platform. While I’m pleased with how work on Story Tracker for Mac is progressing, there’s a bit of a learning curve there despite my experience writing apps for iOS devices. I’m still planning to release it later this year, but meanwhile I wondered if I should work on another iOS app in parallel. Enter: Bonsai Album.

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know I have an eclectic set of interests aside from writing apps. One of these is Bonsai. My interest in Bonsai began with my first tree in 2007, although I’ve been curious ever since seeing these little trees in the Karate Kid movie back in the 80s. I’d attempted to get into the hobby in early 2005, but after an incident with a new tree, our cat, and the fridge (don’t ask) I became disheartened and didn’t get back into it until my wife surprised me with a Ficus bonsai for my birthday.

Here we are in 2011 and I’ve since been to a dozen Bonsai shows, have a collection of roughly thirty trees (including lots of experiments!), and I’ve taken part in a bunch of practical Bonsai workshops learning about the art. I’m also a member of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and Morton Arboretum, and regularly attend meetings of the Midwest Bonsai Society. You might say I could get a little obsessed about Bonsai at times 😉

So anyway, I wondered if there was an app on the App Store for tracking my Bonsai collection. It didn’t take long for me to find what I was looking for. There’s an app for that! While what I found was serviceable, it didn’t quite meet my needs. Well, you can imagine the cogs were turning in my head at this point. Bonsai is a rapidly growing hobby, as seen by the ever increasing crowds at the various local Bonsai shows and the number of blog posts and Bonsai stores online. There are doubtless many Bonsai enthusiasts worldwide with an iPhone or iPad who might be interested in organizing their tree collections. Even if the niche turns out to be much smaller than I suspect, I’d still be itching to write such an app for my own use. After hours of deliberation and planning, I’ve decided to proceed and I’m currently hard at work on the app.

I’m not going to go into detail at this point, but let’s just say that Bonsai Album will do for Bonsai and Penjing (the Chinese variant) fans what my other two apps have done for writers and artists. It’ll be a universal app, meaning it’ll work on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you’re interested in learning more about Bonsai Album, visit the Bonsai Album Facebook page or sign up at BonsaiAlbum.com to be notified via email when the app launches. I’m excited about working on Bonsai Album, and I look forward to providing more information closer to launch!

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