12 is a favorite?

[Smoke]

I ain't up to writing too much tonight but I can add a few more pics to this thread. I took 263.


In this shot, I think Seiji, third place winner picked the boxwood as his charge. He felt the tree was being shown from the wrong direction, Kathy agreed. Even though this made the scroll chop backwards, they felt the strong emotion from the bird was better suited to the tree in this configuration. Kathy did not like the abundence of white flowers in the accent. By turning it around, it placed the flowers in the back. Charles, the owner told Kathy that now the flowers were in the back...."she said Good...and thats where they will stay" we all had a good laugh. we tried a photo of the entry with a lessor accent on a slab. The land water accent was too heavy.

 

[Smoke]

A special note about the above entry. The winner of the competition was Katsumi Kinoshita. Walter Pall called this man probably one of the finest bonsai men in America and highly under rated. He is my teacher as well as Chuck Nelson's teacher. The scroll in the winning entry of Katsumi was previously owned by Chuck Nelson.

One day at Chuck's house teacher and I were conversing about our plans to enter this year. This was around last Sept. Upon seeing this scroll of the lillies and reeds and the kingfisher, sensai's wife asked about getting a scroll like it. Chuck mentioned that he would get one and sell it to her. The next month they came by and wished to purchase the scroll. Chuck said he did not have one yet but would sell them that one if he needed to. They came the next month and Chuck called me and told me he was in a pickle becasue he thought that he would need the scroll for his display.

Sensai comes first so he did sell them the scroll. Chuck panics and calls me again. Well I told him fear not, just quit his job and stay on ebay 24/7 till you find one and just buy the damn thing. He did find another king fisher scroll....just not around water, just some sprigs of grass.

So in this composition, this is why Chuck had planned for the water element in his accent from the get go.

 

[Smoke]

In Jim Gremels display Kathy found the scroll and the accent just too much. This display was heavy, forboding, dark and much too cluttered.

Kathy tried the piece with just the meditating monk

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

I actually like it much better with the monk....

V

 

[Smoke]

Boon had some killer trees. Again Kathy said we have a clutter problem. Way too much stuff in the Tokonoma.

In a seki kazari, table top display, a four point display can work. Boon does it each year at Bay Island with great accomplishment. The Tokonoma is a different matter. The Toko has walls and these walls can ruin an otherwise great seki display and make it too busy. Four elements are never displayed in the Toko. Kathy judged the Pine too low, and too heavy for a spring display. Spring needs lightness and an airy feeling. Soft and subtle. The red maple in the dark pot was almost a scene out of a fall display and again sent the wrong message for a spring display.

Kathy felt the tree was displayed on the wrong side of the scroll. An instant argument between Kathy and Jim Gremel broke out with Kathy maybe winning....ummmm I'm not sure.

Any way, the pine with a simple accent and scroll was tried. you be the judge?

 

[Yamadori]

Al, Were there any issues with you guys messing with other peoples displays? I could see some individuals getting quite uptight about their stuff being moved, or their display being redone. On the other hand I can see more of them welcoming the experience. Last year Hideko indicated that she wouldn't touch a display without the direct permission of the owner. When we rearranged Ted Matson's display I remember her making certain that he wasn't offended.

I think this is a great opportunity; being able to change the elements to improve the display. There is a lot of top quality material to work with in there.