Let me go into a bit more detail so i'm not just bashing a tree without actually contributing something.
i preface this with the customary statement that this is my opinion and anyone is welcome to disagree with it.
The reason i heartily dislike this tree is not me questioning DB's skill or technique or credentials as a bonsai professional. My dislike of it is that it perpetuates the idea that a 1 hour/ 2 hour/ 3 hour whatever demonstration using extremely rough stock is the way a demonstration needs to be run. We see it at all shows and conventions around the world. A variation on "here is a rough piece of stock from nursery/ field/ nature - i'm going to make it into a bonsai right in front of your eyes!" like a magician doing a card trick. Invariably, as i originally posted, they follow a very similar formula and end up with a very similar outcome because a few hours under pressure to re-invent a tree doesn't give much latitude to allow for out of the box thinking or tinkering.
There is a certainly truth to the fact you cannot judge a tree fresh out of a demonstration in comparison to an established tree. Total apples to oranges and fairly pointless other than to gauge the future direction it might take. However when you set up the initial styling by dropping branches and making fanned sparse pads you really only leave yourself one direction you can take it in development; the same way so many others go into a green blob perched atop a trunk.
When i was new to bonsai i would have hung on this video. I ate this kind of thing up; it didn't matter who the professional was, i was absorbed by it. There is however, only so many times you can see the same results come from the same type of material before you need a little bit more meat on the bone.
That Murata(?) maple is simply beautiful to me, there is no question whatsoever that is a delight of a tree. It is precisely because it does not conform to the usual manner in which bonsai are created that gives it all its quality and character. It is a tree i would aspire to have the creativity and thought process to grow.
Here are 3 examples of trees and who were involved in their creation that make me feel something, good or bad, where the demo tree left me yawning. I know these tree are like using a sledgehammer to crack an acorn, but none are the product of following a formula. You could argue the clump is, but i know i wouldn't have the restraint necessary to not add in more trunks or at least build more ramification therefore i include it.
1. Michael Hagedorn - Japanese maple clump. Elegant, reserved but without being indifferent, and the subtlety of bark colour adds interest when in winter silhouette some deciduous can be hard to connect to. I don't know how old or young this particular one is, but a similar effect could be achieved with relatively young material. No insane branch ramification, nothing over the top, just a very tasteful composition.
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2. Dennis Vojtilla - Japanese Maple approx 70 years old. To me this is THE Japanese Maple bonsai. It epitomises everything in my opinion Japanese Maple does better than any other species. Elegance, giving a gentle stoic feel of having quietly endured the years. Where Pines show they have weathered and struggled through them with the rough bark, jins and contorted movement, this maple gracefully displays the age. The dimensions and the gradual taper is exquisite and really puts me in mind of a mature tree. The slight turn of colour on the leaves giving a slightly melancholy feel of impeding autumn. Just a triumph of a tree for me, of course others are free to disagree!
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3.Ryan Neil - Ponderosa Pine. This design actually really irritates me, but it is actually a good thing. It is forcing me to think about why it irritates me so much. Where the demo tree leaves me yawning, this one is still forcing me to engage with it. I think what annoys me about it is the balance of the foliage being both on a similar level and similar volume, my eyes cant settle into a comfortable place to view it. Having said that i'm glad trees that force me to think about their design exist even if they do irritate me!
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And i'll throw in this youtube link because i couldn't find a good photo of it, but this weeping ume from one of Bjorn's videos actually makes my heart ache with appreciation of the delicate beauty of it at the 4:45 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7pYUDpWAUo
I'm sure the category 'bonsai' is becoming more broad but origins are also important.
