AMAZING CASUARINA

[Sabamiki AKA Craig]

Wicked trees treeman, hope i can get some pointers from you one day, i see you like orchids?

[harry]

I see what you mean now treeman???

All penjing that you have seen are ugly

[Bretts]

Top stuff Treeman. It is great to get a look at some of your work. I think the cotoneaster is my favourite. It would scrub up really well I reckon.
The conifers are no slackers either but I think you would be surprised to hear that I think your trees have a penjing influence.
Maybe with a branch or two removed the conifers could make very impressive literati.

I am guessing that you have never shown your trees online before. It can be somewhat more confronting than showing them at a club or exhibit.
As I said I appreciate your sentiments ,for one, that we should not be just patting each other on the back so I look forward to seeing more of your collection and also hearing your input.
But I am not sure how seriously I can take it when you can have nothing nice to say about this amazing casuarina

[Milo]

As these posts are about Robert Stevens very large Casuarina ( which has blown me away and want to know more about the lingnan technique, and to aply the technique to my australian natives )
I'd like to Quote 2 paragraphs from his thoughts on Penjing and Bonsai.
Quote 1
In my opinion, the trem 'authentic' has no relevence to art. An artist should be able to make hisown statement of character and identity. I am not trying to create my own style, but rather trying to find new . inavative possibilities based on my own applications of aestheic concepts. There is no absolute in art and beauty. For appreciation of artistic creation to occour there should be an emotional interaction the art object and the viewer. This requires communication between the art object and the viewer.
Quote 2
In making bonsai, I am not too concrned with the final destination , but rather the joyful process. I enjoy the slow process of revealing the character and identity of the tree - a process that brings my life into parallel with the tree's life journey. This sort of endeavor is more of anactive mediative process and the cultivation of a soulful relationship with the artistic medium,instead of simply a superficial exploration of the medium. The communication between my medium and me my not take place with verbal communication , but there is an echo of understanding nevertheless.

And I realy like how Robert says its the joyful process that matters, By focusing too much on the technique aspect and getting too nervous about doing the "right" thing, I find myself missing the the joyful process of being with my trees.

My quote
So lets enjoy all our trees small and large, bonsai or penjing

Regards Milo

[Greth]

Hmm
The original tree is glorious, a magnificent piece of art, no question.
It isnt the size of tree I want to grow, I love the work of miniature and thats just a bit massive for me. But gotta admire the work.

[Pup]

Treeman, please avail yourself of a copy of, Man Lung Penjing by Wu Yee Sun. Maybe from the local library.

In it you will see many Penjing in it as beautiful! as your trees. Some even more so.

Thank you Pup

[Luke308]

Quote 2
In making bonsai, I am not too concerned with the final destination , but rather the joyful process. I enjoy the slow process of revealing the character and identity of the tree - a process that brings my life into parallel with the tree's life journey. This sort of endeavor is more of an active meditative process and the cultivation of a soulful relationship with the artistic medium,instead of simply a superficial exploration of the medium. The communication between my medium and me my not take place with verbal communication , but there is an echo of understanding nevertheless.
Regards Milo

That is said so well. I think that sums up why I haven't rushed out and bought a "finished bonsai", but instead starting with young seedlings or saplings and nursery stock as it is the journey that really connects you with each tree.

Just to clarify, I was only sharing this Casuarina for appreciation of others. I did not intend to have people being negative, or having a debate as to whether or not it is Bonsai due to its size or not. Yes is it rather large, but it certainly conforms to what defines bonsai. In fact in one of my other posts there was a picture of a 40 year old fig that is massive, and that did not spark negative remarks. In fact that was one of the trees that received positive remarks. It is a four person tree as I am sure this casuarina is too. So why the debate? We are all here to appreciate the art of bonsai, not argue and be negative. If you dont like something either don't comment, or be constructive in what you say. The ":imo:" should not be used if you are not being constructive.

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