A wonderful tree and thank you for the clearer photography. So, it has reverse taper, a rather straight apex, opposite branching etc but what a delightful tree. Those things i pointed out are when the mind is so hung up on Bonsai conditioning that it fails to see the overall beauty of the presentation. I am very happy i do not suffer that affliction.
"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"
I love this tree Steven, you have in my opinion, improved it in your care. A credit to you.
I met Hong Lin the same day as Grant. That experience will stay with me forever.
Like many, my experience with penjing was limited, and probably still is.
My personal styling at that point favoured my Japanese influences, and I did not particularly find penjing appealing.
This I have come to the conclusion was due to my exposure being simply to images viewed either in books or on the internet.
It was, as I have now found out, also because I didn't really understand what I was looking at.
Since meeting Hong Lin, and of course researching penjing as much as possible to be able to interpret what we have here at work, I have discovered a new appreciation of the art.
The majority of my exposure to penjing is that of the Lingnan style, which Hong Lin used to practice.
Here at work, to help me describe to the uninitiated, I use very simple terms to help the viewer understand what they are looking at.
Bonsai we refer to as the art of creating the illusion of a large, old tree in miniature.
Penjing, on the other hand we refer to as "tray scenery". The word scenery here could easily be replaced by the word "story". What the penjing artist is trying to represent in their composition may not necessarily be a depiction of a large, old tree in miniature. The composition may well represent a relationship, for example the relationship between a mother and daughter. There are important elements to that type of composition that will help the artist tell the viewer their story, for example the closeness of the trees in the way they have been planted and the way the branches interact with one another help to tell a story about the relationship between the mother and daughter. Another example of the Lingnan style may help the artist to entice the viewer to feel an emotion. The artist may want the viewer to drift away in the calm and serenity of a landscape composition. Another may be the depiction of a mythical creature, for example a semi cascade style serpent or dragon. The way the trunk twists and dances will certainly look messy if viewed as a bonsai, but would look almost poetic if viewed with the original intent of the artist.
I try to enlighten our visitors to appreciate penjing with a different eye to the one that they view the bonsai. The main thing is that the intent of the artist may not necessarily be to depict a large, old tree in miniature.
An artists tree being refined by another artist
Thankyou Leigh for an interesting explanation.
Whatever art we practise its always the "individual" that makes it something other ordinary. IMO.
Here is one I have not shared before. in the top photo you can see where a branch has been brought under the trunk against the flow to form a foliage mass.
IMG_7898.jpg
in the 2nd photo the junction where the apex comes from is just visible when bare and a slight lump is visible where the junction has fattened over the years.In leaf it is less noticeable.
Even here in Canberra it has not gone fully deciduous but very close.
Grant
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bodhidharma wrote:I know i should be commenting on the tree Grant.. but i love the pot the tree is in
The original pot got broken and I used this Japanese pot as it was the best fit. Although it is mixing up the Chinese and Japanese I think it is a good fit.
It is being made in Tokoname by a younger potter and his glazes and styles are different to the other potters. He is a Kataoka but not sure if or how he is related to the elder Kataoka at the Seizan kiln.
Grant Bowie wrote:
The original pot got broken and I used this Japanese pot as it was the best fit. Although it is mixing up the Chinese and Japanese I think it is a good fit.
It is being made in Tokoname by a younger potter and his glazes and styles are different to the other potters. He is a Kataoka but not sure if or how he is related to the elder Kataoka at the Seizan kiln.
Grant
Thank you for that Info Grant.
"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"
Here is another of Hong Lin's trees. This one is at work and often features in my guided tours. I recently had a person who had been trained in Japan suggest that I had potted this tree on the wrong angle. It wasn't until I explained that the tree was not actually a cascade (or semi-cascade for that matter) but rather a mythical dragon did it make sense. You can see the twisting, turning, almost dancing trunk, with branches that might look like legs and claws. This picture was taken just today, it will be undergoing its winter prune over the next week or two.
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This Penjing stuff finally starting to make sense after your efforts!
Appreciate the time you have taken to respond to this thread and the generous sharing of information and examples.
One of the fabulous things about growing bonsai is as you get old and decrepit your trees get old and beautiful
That's great Leigh. To me it does have a certain awkward look about its planting angle. I'll just let the dragon thing sink in for a while and see if it begins to make sense to me. It's like you have to train your brain to look at it differently.
Squizzy
