Not quite bonsai

[melbrackstone]

https://gallery.1x.com/photo/1734232/latest:all

These pines are absolutely beautiful!

[tgward]

bit of a tautology but I like the way nature looks natural---making Bonsai look natural is difficult for me

[melbrackstone]

Agree!!! These trees are so elegant....I'm not sure we see enough of elegant, as opposed to compressed and uncomfortably tight. (Especially Pines!)

[Gerard]

I love the way the direction of the trees is all over the place, in bonsai this would look messy but mother nature seems to know what she is doing, fabulous bark too.

[treeman]

I love the way the direction of the trees is all over the place, in bonsai this would look messy but mother nature seems to know what she is doing, fabulous bark too.

Your comment made me log in Gerard. Not sure if I agree it would look messy as a bonsai. Maybe to some?, but this kind of naturalness is what would inspire me to duplicate it in bonsai.

[melbrackstone]

If you click on the photographer's name you will see other photos from the same pine grove, as well as a forest of Korean Hornbeam, amongst others.

https://gallery.1x.com/photo/1641082/all:user:630776

[Gerard]

Stunning photos Mel, well worth opening the link

[MJL]

Thanks Mel,

These photos are quite beautiful. Natural rugged elegance; chaotic harmony - that's how my strange head describes it.

Somehow the trees seem chaotic but they are in harmony with their environment; I think it's the elements that we can't see like time and wind that knits it all together. Natures invisible hand... I am rambling.

While I have a number of more 'structured' forests in development - I am trying my hand at this rugged beauty... I am trying it with Moonah's and tea tree mainly because I am influenced by the Mornington Peninsula and walks around the Cape Schanck - a site of rugged elegance and chaotic harmony indeed. Possible as bonsai ... give it a crack.

[treeman]

Thanks Mel,

These photos are quite beautiful. Natural rugged elegance; chaotic harmony -

Of course in the ''eyes'' of nature, bonsai is chaotic and nature is perfect harmony. It's just that we have a hard time recognizing it.

[treeman]

Those are Korean red pines in that grove. I found this wonderful Korean painting of one of them. Look at the branch structure. This should (IMO) be the goal of the new generation of younger bonsai pine enthusiasts.... to create branches like these. Hint....wire won't do it so you can forget about all the American bonsai ''masters'' teaching you how..

krpine.JPG

[鸕盆栽 Gamauji Bonsai]

Those are Korean red pines in that grove. I found this wonderful Korean painting of one of them. Look at the branch structure. This should (IMO) be the goal of the new generation of younger bonsai pine enthusiasts.... to create branches like these. Hint....wire won't do it so you can forget about all the American bonsai ''masters'' teaching you how..

krpine.JPG

That's only accomplished by 60 years or more of yearly typhoons

[treeman]

"鸕盆栽 Gamauji Bonsai" post_id=269601 time=1567255344 user_id=11239]

krpine.JPG

That's only accomplished by 60 years or more of yearly typhoons

If you an ''see'' it you can do it. It must be possible but first you have to appreciate it like the painter did or there is no hope. Many people would call this an untidy mess. I call it perfection. It would require a completely different approach to bonsai starting with forgetting everything you are taught - after you learn it. Possibly it would take 2 or more generations to get there, but I think it might be possible to have something reasonable to look at in one?? No one is even talking about it at the moment (apart from a few old literati discussions).

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tree in a tree.JPG

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[melbrackstone]

INspiring stuff Mike, thanks!

[MJL]

If you an ''see'' it you can do it. It must be possible but first you have to appreciate it like the painter did or there is no hope. Many people would call this an untidy mess. I call it perfection. It would require a completely different approach to bonsai starting with forgetting everything you are taught - after you learn it. Possibly it would take 2 or more generations to get there, but I think it might be possible to have something reasonable to look at in one?? No one is even talking about it at the moment (apart from a few old literati discussions).

Ok - I am up for it.

I can see it and indeed, I'll use the eye of my step-father too. He is both an artist and deer-hunter - he sees trees like few I know; he has an eye for mountains, trees and nature in general.

Un-learnng is hard yet potentially, one of the more powerful factors in personal growth. I like the idea. I have some advantages - being at the start of my bonsai journey in pines and a mere 5-6 years in bonsai. It is easier to unlearn the little I know and yet ...I need the skills now to set a tree up for 30 years hence. More on that conundrum later.

For the sake of reference - the art if Li Xiongcai can guide our style. Here's a link to the man: http://www.artnet.com/artists/li-xiongcai/biography
and
his art:https://www.google.com/search?q=who+is+ ... 2pTTNm9CM:

Now. Let's set a time frame. Treeman notes two generations, perhaps one. If a generation is between 20-30 years - in 25 years at around the age of 75 - if I do my best - I'll have something to pass to the next generation.

For the sake of provenance and a good story - I use some of the seedlings that I purchased from Ryceman. In around 3 decades, I pass a tree or two back to Ryceman or perhaps TimS might be interested in pines again by that stage ... anyway - someone can take it to the second generation.

Back to the issue of skill ... as it happens, along with knowledge from this forum and folk like Treeman, I will start some formal face-to-face hands on workshops (most likely with Scott Martin) (I don't think he walks in the AusBonsai landscape but he's a ripper bloke) to better understand pines. This was already planned and now ... what better to work with someone of high knowledge and skill and possibly challenge their skills too on such a project too.

I'll call it The Treeman Project.

And some poetry to finish off:
"the cool breeze
fills the empty vault of heaven
with the voice of the pine-tree"

....found in this feed here: https://twitter.com/white_haiku/status/ ... 2733296640 ... I am not on twitter but a nice thread nonetheless.

As I said, I am up or it and R3's tree need a goal.

Cheers,

Mark

[TimS]

One of my main dislikes about pines and junipers, other than the skin rashes their foliage gives me, is the way they invariably end up being styled-> the green helmet.

No regard given to the form the trees naturally take, just get a big trunk and compress the foliage down as much as possible. I’m looking forward to this style going out of fashion.

I see images or video of these big shows in Japan and by the 5th tree I’m looking for something/ anything that is different. The American style seems broadly similar, with many of the professionals having learned it in Japan.

More and more I’m appreciating the Chinese style because it is different. One thing the Japanese do do that I like is have little issue with trees taking multiple generations to create. They seems quite content to start trees they will never see really formed properly. We should think more in these lines in my opinion.