Colorado Blue Spruce Windswept Raft

Adair M

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I cleaned out the old needles to see what I have to work with:

90BB98A7-6BEF-4250-A8C6-075359B7734C.jpeg

I acquired this yamadori Spruce this past spring. I gave it a rough wiring in a workshop with Larry Jackel, but I didn’t want to do too much at once.

It’s a yamadori, naturally a raft, probably got stepped on by an elk and knocked down years ago. There’s roots growing down all along the “trunk”. And then, all the trunks move to the right, making it look like a natural windswept. I’m thinking of eventually putting it on a slab.

Ah... “windswept”. The very idea scares me! Many have tried, few have succeeded... But, this one might be one that will work.
 

Hartinez

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I cleaned out the old needles to see what I have to work with:

View attachment 267957

I acquired this yamadori Spruce this past spring. I gave it a rough wiring in a workshop with Larry Jackel, but I didn’t want to do too much at once.

It’s a yamadori, naturally a raft, probably got stepped on by an elk and knocked down years ago. There’s roots growing down all along the “trunk”. And then, all the trunks move to the right, making it look like a natural windswept. I’m thinking of eventually putting it on a slab.

Ah... “windswept”. The very idea scares me! Many have tried, few have succeeded... But, this one might be one that will work.
Aww yes. The windswept style. A standard and mistaken design decision made for someone new to bon.... oh wait, It’s you Adair. Proceed. and please show us how it’s done!
 

Hartinez

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Eh, I think people are overly critical of windswept and cascades.
I love both styles, it’s just really difficult to pull them off. More so windswept. I certainly haven’t. But I think someone of Adair’s skill level and experience will do so.
 
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namnhi

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How about remove the first trunk. It is smaller the the rest and doesn't have the same flow as the others. Maybe 2d picture make it look like that.
 

Maloghurst

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I cleaned out the old needles to see what I have to work with:

View attachment 267957

I acquired this yamadori Spruce this past spring. I gave it a rough wiring in a workshop with Larry Jackel, but I didn’t want to do too much at once.

It’s a yamadori, naturally a raft, probably got stepped on by an elk and knocked down years ago. There’s roots growing down all along the “trunk”. And then, all the trunks move to the right, making it look like a natural windswept. I’m thinking of eventually putting it on a slab.

Ah... “windswept”. The very idea scares me! Many have tried, few have succeeded... But, this one might be one that will work.
Looks like it could work, or semi-cascade. Would the branches be flowing back to the left or right?
I think if the tree want to be windswept it will say so. I think where people go wrong is when they just want to make a windswept when the tree should not be windswept.
 

Adair M

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Looks like it could work, or semi-cascade. Would the branches be flowing back to the left or right?
I think if the tree want to be windswept it will say so. I think where people go wrong is when they just want to make a windswept when the tree should not be windswept.
Everything will move left to right.

Upon close examination, it appears there’s hardly any branches moving left to begin with. Heck, it might have been a natural windswept when it was collected.
 

Adair M

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How about remove the first trunk. It is smaller the the rest and doesn't have the same flow as the others. Maybe 2d picture make it look like that.
The first trunk on the left is a problem. It’s thick at the base, there are stubs of several old broken branches. That may have been broken when the elk stepped on it. I think it will be ok to leave on. I can always Jin it later...

Now... I’ve cleaned out the old needles, what yo do next? When working on a traditional tree, I’d start with the lowest branch, and work my way up. Hmmm... where do I start here?

I’m thinking I need to start on the far right. As I sweep that foliage out to the right, it will make room for the next set.
 

amatbrewer

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Just a thought, and I could be totally wrong (I often am), but most of my favorite windswept examples (in Bonsai and in the mountains) have the main trunk and/or branches moving one way, with the foliage going the other, creating more visual tension and giving an even stronger impression of the windswept affect. See an example below.

I wonder if that first branch might actually work with that sort of design?

267981
 

Adair M

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Well, there’s windswept, and there’s stormswept. One is the tree lives in an area with predominant winds that persist most of the time. Stormswept would be a temporary event where a tree is experiencing rogue winds from a storm or hurricane.

I think this tree is best displayed as a “Wind influenced” tree. One that lives in a windy location on an everyday basis. And, this tree is a raft. I’m afraid that trying to style the wind as a reversal of the intrinsic movement would be a distraction from the naturally cool feature that this tree was knocked over, probably stepped on, and sprouted roots all along the trunk.
 

Japonicus

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Just for fun, here is the other side. In some ways it has it’s advantages.

View attachment 267980
Nice looking back side of the tree. I like the 1st photo presented for the front best.
It displays itself naturally that way, like it's wedged, or angled towards the viewer
and the jin works better too I think in the 1st photo. Did this one come from Colorado too?
 

MrWunderful

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I think the first trunk would look good as a jin too. Nice material!
 
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