Easter White Cedar gets a face lift

[Ang3lfir3]

(Dan wanted to share a tree he has been working on with people ... so we posted it on the blog... you can read the entire post here)

Daniel began working on this tree the other day and wanted to share it with everyone. Thuja Occidentalis (Eastern White Cedar) is a tree that doesn't get too much play as a bonsai specimen however it has wonderful character and excellent foliage that lend themselves to bonsai culture.

Here you can see the tree before Daniel started to work on it. It had gotten a little hairy in the last few years and was ripe for an evening of work and transformation.

Before work began on the tree (picture provided by diane Robinson)

Working on the tree in the evenings as Daniel often does he completed work on the tree in a few nights. It is important to note the amount of foliage that was removed as the tree is rather vigorous and controlling the planes of the foliage is very important. Also as the trunk of the tree is the main focal point here with its gnarled undulating deadwood the foliage needs to be subordinate to the trunk to carry out the intended image.

The tree after a few evenings of work. Notice how the foliage is subordinate to the trunk (focal point).

more pictures here

questions comments always welcome .... thanks!

 

[rock]

How to comment on work done by someone in bonsai for 40 plus years

Wrote a big critic, but erased it all

I know you are proud of "Dan" but some might not know him (Ive only seen him demo with a chainsaw) so you might refresh folks memory.

 

[Ang3lfir3]

How to comment on work done by someone in bonsai for 40 plus years

Wrote a big critic, but erased it all

I know you are proud of "Dan" but some might not know him (Ive only seen him demo with a chainsaw) so you might refresh folks memory.

hmmmmm .... I say you comment freely .... I know that we would all be interested to hear what you have to say ....

I understand that for many people Dan's style and work can seem "odd" or "weird" ..... part of that is intentional .... I find it difficult to know what things to convey to people in discussion of his work when people take his time in bonsai (53 years) as some sort of barrier to commenting ....

what do you like? why?
what do you dislike? why?

there are no hurtful comments ... Daniel had the CA bonsai world turn its back on him after a chainsaw demo and that never stopped him .... we all learn from everyone and to this day Daniel still learns from the eyes of those around him (in this case the world of the internet) ...

so I welcome you to rewrite your comments and critic if you feel up to it ... and we will read and respond with respect and appreciation for taking the time to discuss with us something that we love so dearly (bonsai) ...

thanks in advance !!!

P.S. as for reminding people of his history ( I hate to brow beat people with it ) what suggestions do you have? (@grouper52 already wrote a biography)

 

[JudyB]

I think that a vast majority of the people who find Dan's work odd, have just never seen the ancient forests in the western US. Or don't really know what an old tree in decline looks like.

Like it or not is beside the point, some people have no framework to appreciate the reality behind the work.

Just my 2pennies

 

[Bill S]

Saw a demo by Daniel at our club years ago, and I think everyone was thoroughly impressed, we never saw the demo tree again as some newbie won it, but it was something we all would have loved to take home.

Not odd at all to me, after reading some of the articles he and others have done, he is another artist( not said to lessen his impact) that has an approach that he owns so to speak. Nick Lenz, Grahm Potter, et al have a certain take that some go for hook line and sinker, some not so much, no real rights and wrongs here, more of impressions of experiance, or artistic license(still has to look good).

 

[rockm]

Eastern White Cedar has been used quite extensively as bonsai in the east. A few Canadian growers grew them exclusively for a while back in the '90s, Reiner Goeble, for one. There are a few of his trees at the National Arb.

EWC is "arborvitae." There are spectacular 700-year old specimens along the Niagara Escarpment in the N.E. U.S./Canada border.

 

[fore]

I'm presently reading, almost finished, Will's biography on Dan Robinson. Excellent read btw.

I love Dan's approach to trees emphasizing the deadwood to give the image of an old ancient tree. And I like much what he's done with this Cedar!

 

[daygan]

I can sort of dig it. I think those bare roots on the left, though, push it just out of the "tree in decline" category and right over the cliff into the "in the throes of death" category

 

[evmibo]

I saw the tree and immediately thought Dan Robinson.

Started and finished Gnarly Branches within 48hrs, 2 weeks ago. Excellent read for those interested.

Love the face lift

 

[Ang3lfir3]

I think that a vast majority of the people who find Dan's work odd, have just never seen the ancient forests in the western US. Or don't really know what an old tree in decline looks like.

Like it or not is beside the point, some people have no framework to appreciate the reality behind the work.

Just my 2pennies

Very much agree and we hope that armed with that information many people will be able to appreciate the tree of our ancient forests here.... maybe even come for a vacation

@Bill -- thanks for your reply and I gather I understand a bit of what you are saying .... still feels like you are holding back a little (makes sense) .... I am still curious to get any other thoughts you have .... feel free to PM if you prefer to discuss in private ....

@All -- thank you all for the replies and I appreciate that you enjoy the book and the tree ...

 

[crust]

Love the spooky hollow motif. Wonderful.
Dan is the master of deleting to frail sparesness to reveal the monsters form.

 

[tom tynan]

How many times have we each been faced with a tree we really enjoy - yet at the top there is a spikey jin - here the artist has tilted the tree and created some tension and the balance between the top and all of those delicately carved branch jins is perfect. The sparseness of the foliage will fill in over time - but the background frame has been established. There is nothing contrived. Although the left side has some exposed roots they add character and since they are probably dead - why not exploit them a bit. Very cool. Tom .

 

[ghues]

I like the image and transformation but I believe that for the image to truly reflect the "ancient image" the finer deadwood branches would have succumbed to the environmental damage decades ago........maybe that's Dan's next step?
Cheers G.

 

[amkhalid]

Thuja is a species so dear to me...

The oldest and most beautiful Thuja in the world are found in my part of Canada, and I can attest that Robinson's work on this tree is accurate to nature. The motif of a top jin and a shorter apex growing from a side branch is common in tortured lakeshore cedars... both big and small.

However, I don't think being accurate to nature is always important in bonsai. Nevertheless, I think that once it fills out it will be an attractive tree. I probably would not have thinned it that much, especially since the tree didn't look particularly strong to start with. In my climate it would weaken the tree unnecessarily and set back its refinemeny.. but then again I have seen thuja thinned much more than this, and they probably love your climate. Anyway, for a conifer, they are incredibly strong.

Angelfire: do you know the source of this material?

GHues: thuja deadwood is very resilient. When scaled up, fine deadwood features like the twigs on Dan's tree may persist for decade or perhaps centuries in nature if they are far off the ground, as seen below.

I have attached some pictures of wild thuja (some just dead skeletons) for your interest. The collected specimens are untouched as shown. As you can see, there is no limit to the variation of their shapes.

 

[Ang3lfir3]

Wonderful additions ..... I LOVE cedars too ..... thuja and chamey (i still think of AYC as chamey) .....

This tree was collected up your way in Toronto .... Dan collected it maybe a decade ago I believe [maybe less but more than 5yrs] ..... I would love to go collecting in the area sometime as the material is fabulous!!

thank you again for adding these great additions and examples of these magnificent trees

 

[tom tynan]

I like the image and transformation but I believe that for the image to truly reflect the "ancient image" the finer deadwood branches would have succumbed to the environmental damage decades ago........maybe that's Dan's next step?
Cheers G.

I respect your viewpoint - but if the finer deadwood branches are removed the composition is barren on the left and although the trunk is beautifully carved - the composition needs the finer branches - even the dead ones - for a sense of scale. Does the desire to reflect the "ancient image" mean that we must replicate it in every sense or are we allowed some creative license to make something in minature form resemble the ancient tree. Just my own thoughts on the matter....Tom

 

[ghues]

Dear Tom, Amkhalid and Ang/Eric – its only IMHO.

OK OK it’s only my opinion based on my view of ancient trees (especially in this case western red cedar and Yellow cedar) which has been nurtured from 37 years of working in woods (Pacific Northwest – temperate rain forests of British Columbia).
I see and work with them almost everyday, so I like you I have formulated what a really old specimen should/could look like to me.
I agree we don’t have to replicate mother nature to produce an bonsai image of an old tree (creative/artistic license) and I also agree that they have some very unusual internal anti-rot mechanisms, that allow them to hold onto those finer and larger branches/tops for a long time……………but over time mother nature and old man time wins, they fall off, get broken etc but often lower branches will inevitably hang on and become a new leader for decades/centuries to come.
I do believe that Eric or even Dan would NOT be upset about my comments for as I said I really liked the image but perhaps over time it will change….
I’ve attached a few images to show some examples of ancient Cedars from my "neck of the woods" for discussion. For me the less foliage mass and more deadwood the better for an anicent image of a Thuga plicata.
Cheers Graham

 

[Ang3lfir3]

certainly not upset about your comment as I know all to well of its accuracy ... certainly over time the image will evolve on its own with similar catastrophes occurring in real life ... for now the fun part will be enjoying the artistic natural of the wood and sculpture....

personally I think there is often too much emphasis placed on attempting to create facsimiles of ancient trees and not enough on creating those that evoke the emotions of truly ancient material... while also allowing for some art in that space

thanks for the great images that really show people what we are talking about

 

[amkhalid]

Graham, no offense intended. I was just sharing that the Thuja I see around here hold onto relatively small branches for a long time. The trees I posted, especially the "big ones" (20' qualifies as a big tree out in those barrens), are very old. But of course its a drier climate and different environment than yours. So the deadwood probably behaves differently.

Dear Tom, Amkhalid and Ang/Eric – its only IMHO.

OK OK it’s only my opinion based on my view of ancient trees (especially in this case western red cedar and Yellow cedar) which has been nurtured from 37 years of working in woods (Pacific Northwest – temperate rain forests of British Columbia).
I see and work with them almost everyday, so I like you I have formulated what a really old specimen should/could look like to me.
I agree we don’t have to replicate mother nature to produce an bonsai image of an old tree (creative/artistic license) and I also agree that they have some very unusual internal anti-rot mechanisms, that allow them to hold onto those finer and larger branches/tops for a long time……………but over time mother nature and old man time wins, they fall off, get broken etc but often lower branches will inevitably hang on and become a new leader for decades/centuries to come.
I do believe that Eric or even Dan would NOT be upset about my comments for as I said I really liked the image but perhaps over time it will change….
I’ve attached a few images to show some examples of ancient Cedars from my "neck of the woods" for discussion. For me the less foliage mass and more deadwood the better for an anicent image of a Thuga plicata.
Cheers Graham
View attachment 22665View attachment 22666View attachment 22667

 

[KWag]

Great discussion and wonderful photos.