Am I just bad?

[Tony Bebb]

Hi Matt

Great post and some equally great info. The hardest part for any beginner is the visualising. Not knowing how the tree will grow because you haven't grown many is natural, as is knowing what the shape will look like if you don't know the style. Like others have said don't be too hard on yourself as the more you do the more you know. Just keep looking at trees and pictures and drawing helps.

All the styles are out there in Aus but in different climates and conditions. I would definitely suggest looking at as many full grown trees as possible in as many different environments as you can. I learnt so much about Bonsai from bushwalking and road trips and studying/admiring trees in their natural environment, and looking at their structure. I really 'got' cascade when I saw my first big cascade, a large casuarina, growing of a cliff in Lamington National Park, and Literati Heath on the sides of Mt Warning.( Not as adventurous as it might sound as they were on normal walks, not rock climbing or mountaineering.) Windswept on the coastline, Broom around Glen Innes to Guyra, Formal upright Boxwoods in Lamington and Pines in the Bunya's, and lots of natural style in the Figs and Gums everywhere. Pick an area close to home and explore not necessarily what they are but how they grow, and enjoy the ride.

Tony

[kcpoole]

Thanks for the picture Mitchel, it helps a lot. What makes cascades hang down? Is it from snow forming at such high altitudes?

Yes Snow can flatten most things, but also the weight of water iself can break or bend / Break branches too

[craigw60]

Hi Matt, it just takes time, if you stick with bonsai long enough you will learn to see into the future of the tree. The best thing I ever did was buy a few albums of the kokofu exhibition in Japan and spend many hours studying the trees and the way they are structured. There is a lot of pictures on line of european and American trees but not a lot of Japanese work which is in my opinion the worlds best by far.
Craigw

[matt_95]

I went for a walk along the water front with mum today. The council has planted Norfolk pines, native hibiscus and figs on there. The hibiscus and figs looked like broom style and the pines I suppose were formal and informal uprights. They had branches all the way around the trunk though so I am not sure.

I have seen literati before, I think I could do that as I have seen them and understand how they form. Why do people usually have the apex going down? Doesn't it make more sense that it grows up? If it is reaching for sunlight it should grow up right?

[Roger]

Matt
Pointy tops on trees is one of the sometimes misunderstood aspects of tree growth. Most/many tree species lose the pointed top as they age, even conifers. It can be one of the indicators of whether a tree is really old or not. It may only take 100 years with some species, whereas others might take over 1000. It can look pretty odd to see a bonsai tree styled to look old, then have it topped by a pointing up twig at the top. Sort of ruins the illusion if you understand trees.

As for pointing down, if it is not a cascade, semi cascade, I'm not sure I know what you mean. Tilting forward, that's something different and has to do with a bit of Japanese culture on one hand and bit to do with illusion on another.
Roger

[matt_95]

Like this http://www.google.com.au/m/search?site= ... &sa=N#i=13

I don't understand why the apex drops down.

[Roger]

Ah... the beauty of 'literati'.

These are most interesting expressions in bonsai/penjing. The ABc site has had some discussion (and a copmetition) in the past, as have several other web sites and books.

I've been doing some reading on who the Chinese 'literati' were, what they did, what kinds of art they practiced and why. Still early days, but fascinating.

Quite a few appear to be people, of the elite classes (ie money, family, intelligence etc). Some were certainly creative types as well. Some who were expelled from 'court' or the central cities or capital for various kinds of misdemeanours that didn't attract anything as severe as death, would end up on the edges of empire and often in the south where the climate wasn't too cold and a certain level of administrative control was needed, but importantly far away from the centre of power and influence. These learned men were usually skilled in the key arts of caligraphy, poetry and painting, as these were skills that was required of them. Some were radical in their artistic temperment and when freed from the dictates of the 'mustard seed' would produce things that could never be tolerated at court. They couldn't always be constrainied by what was decreed to be acceptable forms or art by 'rules'. Who knows exactly what was being said in these 'literati' works. Some were inspired by nature - there are some pretty far out individual specimens in odd places, while others were purely fanciful etc.

Modern literati miniature trees also show lively character. The downward pointing apex has nothing to do directly with the expected normal growth form of a tree in the ground. They are about expressing something quite else. So you might relax about trying to necessarily interpret their form in purely botanical/biological form. Enjoy or hate them. Good ones can be powerful images indeed. They can be both challenging to make as well as maintain.

Roger

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi Matt,

I have a black pine growing in my front yard. The old branches are slender and have long inter-nodes, it is healthy. And as most trees, the new grow are strongest at the tips. As the tips grow strong, it becomes heavier overtimes, and so the branches are natural pulled downs by their own weight -- so to speak.

I have read that this is what happens in nature. I have a chance to have observed this. I have also read that, the reason why in bonsai, we wire the branches down is to copy/replicate this natural process.

Cheers Matt and enjoy bonsai.