English elm workshop with PA

[Grant Bowie]

Hi all,

Tree as of August 2010. Roots needed attention and some rough carving done.

english elm before start of carving -.JPG

Roots that needed attention first -.JPG

Peters Adams sketch from workshop August 2011

Peter Adams Sketch for English Elm -.jpg

Got the wire off today.

6 months after workshop.JPG

Long way to go but its a start.

Grant

[alpineart]

Hi Grant , a very nice starter . I can see a stately old tree in a very short time . Its amazing what can be dome in a short period with good quality trunks as in this case and of course a keen eye and a little experience .

Cheers Alpineart

[Grant Bowie]

It is going to be a pretty wild looking tree when its finished; which is what Peter was after.

It will have lots of lumps and bumps.



Grant

[Andrew F]

Wow, love that sketch and i hope it all pans out for you, follow this thread with keen interest.

[Luke308]

Looking good!!

I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't a member of any clubs when Peter Adams did the workshops. I didn't join until the week he was doing workshops . I was lucky enough to be at the meeting that he gave a presentation too, and I was thoroughly impressed by his keen eye to spot a beautiful tree from not much at all. After seeing his artwork of your elm, I am both in awe, and jealous It looks like you will have another beautiful tree in no time at all

[bodhidharma]

Hi Grant, a wonderful start to a future great tree. i am glad you have left so many branches on the tree for future selection as that is one of the mistakes i have made in the past. English elms bud back readily as younger trees but as they get older they stop producing new branches so readily. Look forward to it progress.

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Grant, a wonderful start to a future great tree. i am glad you have left so many branches on the tree for future selection as that is one of the mistakes i have made in the past. English elms bud back readily as younger trees but as they get older they stop producing new branches so readily. Look forward to it progress.

Hi,

Yes I think it is absoloutely critical to leave plenty of branches on the tree and to keep and use those that pop out serendipitously.

This stops the individual branches from overthickening as well as giving you plenty of choices.

Grant

[Watto]

Welcome to the English Elm club, and not a bad start either.

[Sean M]

Good to see yours is doing so well.
It was a little intimidating watching you work on an elm at the same time (and probably from the same place) . Perhaps we could have an elm off in 5-10 years

[NBPCA]

Good to see yours is doing so well.
It was a little intimidating watching you work on an elm at the same time (and probably from the same place) . Perhaps we could have an elm off in 5-10 years

Hi,

I hope it was not intimidating in any way as I was just another member of the club doing a workshop with an overseas guest.

And yes I got my Elm from leigh.

I never had/took the chance to do an apprenticeship overseas so I take every opportunity I can to do workshops with the visiting overeseas demonstrators in Australia. I am doing two workshops with Boon this year and if able I will do one or two with next years guest in Canberra; although it may not be possible next year as I will be very busy.

After I got the final sketch from Peter and the explanation sketch that went with it I now have to chop off a fair bit of the apex and do some carving. I will use it as part of my talk on Carving at the CBS meeting in June.

Grant

[Sean M]

It was probably more that it was the first workshop with an international guest I had done, and the national curator was there so it was probably more awe than intimidation. After about an hour though it was all good as everyone there was great . I'm hoping that I can get to that carving talk in June as I had some carving to do on mine too!

[Grant Bowie]

Update,

Here is the elm after reducing the apex as per the sketch.A few small branches at the front of the tree low down expired during winter so they were removed and some wiring done.

The tree is healthy and budding well now so I should be able to do some more carving and refining later in the year when I will probably defoliate.

Grant

IMG_3918 - Copy.JPG

[tex048]

Looking fantastic Grant.
Would love to see this in real life!

[Steven]

G'day Grant,

It's coming along nicely and will be an imposing, gnarly and spooky tree.
You've achieved really natural looking branch movement with your wiring. Any tips you can pass on for creating this?
It looks like you are heading towards a slightly different (more upright) canopy than the spreading one in Peter's drawing. Is this the case or are you building the branch length over time?

regards,
Steven

[Grant Bowie]

G'day Grant,

It's coming along nicely and will be an imposing, gnarly and spooky tree.
You've achieved really natural looking branch movement with your wiring. Any tips you can pass on for creating this?
It looks like you are heading towards a slightly different (more upright) canopy than the spreading one in Peter's drawing. Is this the case or are you building the branch length over time?

regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,
In the actual workshop the tree was handled differently to the final sketch; ie taller, but the apex will grow quickly and spread in time and I will honour the sketch where possible with all the adjustments along the way that will naturally happen.

As with all things the sketch meets reality. In a war the plan lasts till the first gun shot.

Re wiring; I am putting a lot more up and down movement in my wiring now; wait till you see what I have done with a hawthorn! Mr Lo at the WA convention highlighted this and his trees looked very natural; not too contrived.