Progression series over 34 years of a Golden Cedar

[Dave54]

Hi Grant,
A truly great transformation and story.
I personally like what you have done and don't know if every tree posted in this forum deserves to be critiqued so harshly.
I think some of our critics are a bit tough.
Someone once told me that if you are good enough Do It ! If you're not, Become A Critic!! ( not intended to anyone specifically )
cheers
Dave

[Ash Barns]

Great progression Grant and of course if you decide that changes may be made then that is a personal choice. I think the jinned top looks in keeping with the design you have shown. As we are all aware a tree is never finished until it dies.

Ash

[Elias]

Hi Grant,

Really nice tree, awesome transformation. Can't wait to see more progressions, nice work.

Elias

[Grant Bowie]

I like the tree, but i dont like the jin..
Sorry buddy,

I love the jin. I think it maketh the bonsai. It looks really natural to me just like one growing on a cliff. I dont really like the little rock behind the trunk I think it should be bigger cause it gets lost or maybe not there at all.
BB

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been a bit busy lately and not responding so quickly. I don't get much time with my own bonsai these days due to my work commitments but that is common for a lot of people.

As you can see from the progression series the rock just sort of happened and has become a firm part of the overall Bonsai and I am not inclined to remove it. It becomes a variation on a theme with the stump of the old root system and the new Jin.The rock will probably get gobbled up by the tree over the years and the next owner(in 20 or 30 years time) will decide what to do with it.

Re the Jin. I had a close look at it yesterday and I am happy enough with it as it is for now. One thing I may do is continue the Jin down the right hand side of the trunk and then along the top of the horizontal part of the trunk towards the root lump, plus link the top jin to the minor one as well. The Jin is a work in progress as well as the rest of the tree.

A few years ago before I moved to Canberra I sold off about 130 of my private bonsai(kept about 25) and had to make some tough decisisions about what to keep. I only kept a tree if I thought I could improve it and was motivated to. This one fell into the I can do something with category but also the sentimental category as it is my oldest surviving bonsai I started myself.

Grant

[Asus101]

Ok, my lack of communication skills have shone through...

My thoughts on the jin, is not about it being there or not being there. Carving is one thing I am obsessed with, and its something I will stare at for as long as possible.
The thing I don't personally like about the jin, is not its placement, its not the movement or anything like that. My dislike comes from the being no appearance of age in the jin itself.
Now this firstly could be the photo, so I apologize ahead for the other comments in this post.
If there was some fine details put into the jin, such as grain it would I feel enhance it so much more. Allow it to weather more, so it doesn't look like its been whitewashed like the old styled houses.


I have started to notice a lot of differences between Australian artists and European ones. We don't do a lot of detailed carving work, while the Europeans obsess over it.

[Grant Bowie]

Hi,

Certainly the jin has weathered since the photo was taken and yes you are correct, the amount of detail carving is only minor and it could do with a bit more.

Grant

[Grant Bowie]

Hi all,

I mentioned earlier this year in another thread that I was looking for a pot to put my Cedar in. Well I got one in Melbourne last week and repotted it when I got home.

After the hard trim in February it is just bristling with lots of buds and I gave it a further light trim today. The buds are swelling and I expect it to fill out pretty quickly. I will control the new growth tightly in spring and summer. It is actually a fairly vigorous tree and even though it doesn't bud back I have been able to keep it compact over all the years.

Grant

Cedar in virtual pot.jpg

let run free for a while.JPG

In new pot and as is August 2010.JPG

[Leigh Taafe]

That works well Grant.

[Grant Bowie]

I forgot to mention that the rock at the base of the tree looked out of place in the new pot and has finally disappeared.

grant

[Craig]

Looks awesome in the new pot Grant, love this tree Craig

[jase]

Beautiful.............

[jarryd]

great progression grant, thanks for taking the time to post this mate.

its great to see bonsai transform over time.

not normally a fan of cresent pots but these to marry together very well.

great work mate your really stepping it up a notch atm.

[Graeme]

As usual there is a variety of feelings and this is a good thing. Would'nt it be boring if we all liked the same thing.
Grant

At the risk of sounding boring Grant, I like this tree - very much. Well done, tho' this proves the worth of age when we are working on our trees mate,
but then having a bit of an idea what your doing helps as well.

By the way, as I was reading through this great post I got to thinking. Did you ever get to do anything with that monster Ash you collected in Adelaide all those years ago?

[Grant Bowie]

As usual there is a variety of feelings and this is a good thing. Would'nt it be boring if we all liked the same thing.
Grant

At the risk of sounding boring Grant, I like this tree - very much. Well done, tho' this proves the worth of age when we are working on our trees mate,
but then having a bit of an idea what your doing helps as well.

By the way, as I was reading through this great post I got to thinking. Did you ever get to do anything with that monster Ash you collected in Adelaide all those years ago?

Unfortuneatley I killed it. I had it in the ground and then did my back in when i was to move it.

I needed to expand my nursery and then had to dig it out at the wrong time of year(if there is one for Ash).

Grow a lot; kill a lot; learn a lot.

I have learnt a lot about ash recently and hope it won't happen again.

Grant

[Graeme]

Thats a real bummer Grant, I remember the effort you put into digging that tree (also the responce from one other digger because yours was bigger than his )
As you say tho' dig a couple, kill a lot and hopefully learn how not to kill so many along the way. Well I think thats something like what you said anyhow.
Still think you deserve a, "Not a bad effort", for this one tho.