I think you have done justice to this tree. It has a graceful trunk and it would have been a shame to drastically change it as you contemplated last year.
I think your styling has produced an elegant upright in a classic style - nothing stock standard about it. I think that sometimes our lives and bonsai are far more complicated than they need to be.
I'm sure with you continued care it will continue to improve and I look forward to the updates.
That yellow climbing rose in the background looks great too
Regards,
Steven
Last edited by Steven on February 14th, 2013, 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
A good Bonsai is spectacular and dramatic regardless of the style and if it has dead wood. I think there is nothing more beutiful than a simple design that represents a tree, no matter where it is growing.
You've touched on a touchy little angle, which is that what we believe, or want, or expect, or aim for, can blind us to wider possibilities. It's sometimes said that your strengths are also your weaknesses, - what you do best, or easiest, limits what you can see. Someone who wires everything fanatically may only make a design that is predictable. Someone who just selects from the chaos of the natural jumble may have lots of "natural" angles, but miss out on style, grace, balance and so on. We need to "see" a wide range of possibilities to get the best from any material.
You've touched on a touchy little angle, which is that what we believe, or want, or expect, or aim for, can blind us to wider possibilities. It's sometimes said that your strengths are also your weaknesses, - what you do best, or easiest, limits what you can see. Someone who wires everything fanatically may only make a design that is predictable. Someone who just selects from the chaos of the natural jumble may have lots of "natural" angles, but miss out on style, grace, balance and so on. We need to "see" a wide range of possibilities to get the best from any material.
And yes, your formal upright is graceful.
Gavin
Nicely said Gavin!!!!!!!!
If you cant make a tree look like a tree then bonsai would difficult!!!!
Excellent input from our wonderful community and this forum should change ideas and make people re think. As stated earlier, we do go through cycles of Bonsai growth in our views, in our compositions, and in our understanding. Who, with experience here, has not sat in front of a tree and scratched their heads as to where it could go. My personal philosophy now is.."if you do not have the tree's design in your head then dont start it". A persons style is indicative of their nature i.e if a person is out there in their character so will their trees be. If a person has a subtle nature, and so it goes. This is easy to see, even on this forum. I dont want to get away from the intent of this thread but it is a little bit necessary to explain my thinking. We are influenced by our visual observation of seeing a wonderful tree created by someone else and go home and try and recreate it. We cannot escape this process. Then,driven by ego and more experience, we want to create something unique and different, a lasting legacy in the Bonsai world. At what point do we leave this thinking and work with the tree in front of us. What is the ingredient necessary to create a Masterpiece, "The spectacular" tree that everybody wants to see, your tree. Egolessness, Love, a deep connection with Nature and the tree in front of us? Back to the stock standard question, Standing in front of a formal upright Redwood at 100 metres tall WILL take your breath away and are we not trying to evoke that feeling in our own trees? Some of us are not that deeply involved with our Bonsai journey but some of us are, so the questions should be asked and i think the question is sometimes more important than the answer.
"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"
"if you do not have the tree's design in your head then dont start it".
(Bodhi)
It's an excellent sentiment, and I admire people who can do it, but I have to take issue with it. I've grown most of my trees from cuttings/seedling/little bits - they grow on, I cut them back, grow on, cut back for ten or twenty years, at some stage something interesting evolves. The results are sometimes a history of misadventure, and sometimes a record of poor imagination, but they're a picture of my life, for what it's worth. They can end up looking a damn sight better than I do, and will, I hope, last longer. I'm not sure when I "start" a tree, they more or less grow into the bloodstream.
An excellent point Gavin and good clarification. Most of my trees come from Nursery stock, collected stock, inherited stock (the tree in this thread was given to me by somebody with no plan for it) all my grown from seed or cuttings stock are still doing that, growing. I clip and grow them and they are always a work in progress. I have designed a tree on top of a tree (with a plan) and then severed it and now have a plan for the donor tree. Would we call what you are describing free form, or natural designing? I guess some of us need plans and architects drawings to build a wall and some of us just plonk a brick down and lay another on top of it. the main thing is the wall gets built. Hang on, i need another sip of my Hunters Shiraz, the most important thing is though, how good is the wall.
Last edited by bodhidharma on February 15th, 2013, 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"
bodhidharma wrote: Back to the stock standard question, Standing in front of a formal upright Redwood at 100 metres tall WILL take your breath away and are we not trying to evoke that feeling in our own trees? Some of us are not that deeply involved with our Bonsai journey but some of us are, so the questions should be asked and i think the question is sometimes more important than the answer.
Well said. I think one of the key points of any form of art is the questions it asks and invokes. And those questions will be different for each of us, and part of why different trees speak to each of us differently.
What an epic thread. Diederik you've left me quite inspired to follow in my own steps as to what I believe looks good on a Bonsai. I will continue to draw on the experience of others to perfect my technique, but ultimately the aesthetic of my trees will be my own creativity coming to light.
THIS is exactly why I love this art form. Thank you all.
-Mo
There are many ways to do things, but only one "best" way.
