AusBonsai

This is one of a bunch of Chinese Elm cuttings I propagated as I was first getting into bonsai. I wired initial shape into all of them and did root work to give them the start of decent nebari.

I ended up selling them last year as pre-bonsai to beginners in my club. They all sold quickly except this one. I decided I would just keep it and utilise it myself.

I had this unconventional little "double dragon" pot made by Brendon AKA Bad Swan Ceramics on the shelf. Figured it could work with this tree as something a bit different. Early stages but I think there's promise for this elm.
July 2023 before reducing into bonsai pot
After repot and inital style
Jan 2024
Pot detail

As a beginner I can understand why it wasn’t selected, I look at the initial tree and think, ‘hmm, I could probably trunk chop it down to the first branch on the right and wait a few years.’

Then I look at the work you did and wonder ‘why didn’t I see that possibility???’

JimmyTheSkip wrote: ↑January 10th, 2024, 3:42 pm As a beginner I can understand why it wasn’t selected, I look at the initial tree and think, ‘hmm, I could probably trunk chop it down to the first branch on the right and wait a few years.’

Then I look at the work you did and wonder ‘why didn’t I see that possibility???’

Yes, you are dead right. The other elms from the group had either more exaggerated movement, better taper, thicker trunks, and more branches. The longer you practice bonsai, the better you get at being able to find potential in material where it is less obvious I think.

Thanks for posting all of your trees. You have a great eye for designing trees and seeing a great tree from the beginning.

Interested to know how you developed your style, was it feedback from peers or books or just copying others or you just have a good understanding of how bonsai design works?

I also like the pot. I think the colouring of the dragons is quite subtle so they don't distract from the tree. A great match for the Chinese elm!

TimIAm wrote: ↑January 10th, 2024, 9:50 pm Thanks for posting all of your trees. You have a great eye for designing trees and seeing a great tree from the beginning.

Interested to know how you developed your style, was it feedback from peers or books or just copying others or you just have a good understanding of how bonsai design works?

I also like the pot. I think the colouring of the dragons is quite subtle so they don't distract from the tree. A great match for the Chinese elm!

Thanks Tim. No problem, I really enjoy sharing what I get up to with like-minded people.

As to your question, I would say a bit of all those things. This might be a bit long-winded, but I want to answer thoroughly for anyone else who may be interested or find it useful.

After about 6 months of fumbling around on my own at the start, I was lucky enough to find an older experienced bonsai practitioner in my local area. He also has a strong horticultural background. He became a mentor to me and really helped me advance my skills in a short time period.

Also at the same time I was reading this forum, watching youtube videos, reading articles, and just absorbing a lot of information online. I have a stack of books too. Amy Liang's "The Living Art of Bonsai" was my first book and I highly recommend it. Although it's quite dated, it has great photos and diagrams to study from.

I have a background in visual art as well. Before I got into bonsai, I spent around 4 years studying drawing and design as a personal hobby. I studied figure drawing the human form a lot where you learn gesture drawing using line to capture flow and feeling of the subject. I think this translates as a very useful skill in bonsai, or any artistic endeavor.

Something I'd highly recommend to others is to spend some time just observing and studying other forms of art such as sculpture or drawing/painting to get a different perspective on bonsai rather than purely looking at other bonsai or just trees. Just my on what I think helps with the design aspect.

EDIT:
I forgot to mention a huge factor. Doing workshops with clubs and especially visiting professionals. I don't manage to get to every visiting artist workshop, but I can't stress enough how much knowledge I have gained from these. Game changing. Get to as many as possible.

Thanks for the thorough reply, and thanks for the book suggestion.

I find it really interesting that you mentioned visual art design concepts. One of my favourite bloggers is Adam Levigne at adamaskwhy and he occasionally talks about how sound art principles apply to bonsai design. I think he studied sculpture at some point and he does quite a bit of wood carving.

I've been reading bonsai books and magazines for many, many years but my brain just doesn't absorb anything structured from it. Each year my trees improve, but it's a slow climb.

There is a decent bonsai club near me, but I'll have to wait a few more years for the kids to move out until I get some free time back