Do you look with an artist's eye or a hobbyist's eye?

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Obviously, the answer could be (and likely is) "both." I am especially interested to hear how you view, not a particular bonsai tree, but rather your collection as a whole. So, for instance, I imagine bonsai artists want to create an "oevre" in and across their trees, and so choose (1) tree species, (2) pot types (traditional Japanese v. American), (3) styling decisions, etc. in order to create a certain aesthetic to the overall garden (much the way that all Monet paintings, while different, still attest to his overall vision), whereas I imagine bonsai hobbyists tend to focus their efforts more tree-to-tree, with less of an emphasis on the big bonsai picture (i.e., a "let's see what I can do with this tree" mentality).

Thoughts?
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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Thoughts?
Think this horse has been beaten half to death here:
 

penumbra

Imperial Masterpiece
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I agree with the above completely^^^^

But ...................................................... learn to walk before you learn to run.
 
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Think this horse has been beaten half to death here:
Oh awesome. Thanks. Should have known another thread had already tackled the question.
 

Lorax7

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I think an artist’s recognizable style is an emergent phenomenon that becomes visible in their work because of consistency in the way that artist handles material. Basically, once an artist has been working in the medium long enough to have developed a habitual way of doing things their style will start to become recognizable (maybe). It’s not something an artist really has to consciously think about. The art looks like your work because it is and it carries the remnants of all the idiosyncratic things that you consistently do because you’re you and that’s how you roll.
 
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