How doing bonsai changes ones perspective

[Cadillactaste]

Before bonsai...I had a fairy garden. Even loved the plastic bonsai tree. (Shaking head).


The pot is a nest with 2 birds on the side.



While in Amish country I visited the fairy garden store...and I only seen cheap unnatural groupings. One had a weeping conifer that I would have liked in a bonsai pot or landscape. But not worth buying the set up for the tree.

I think Penjing sort of stole my heart...because honestly I have never been into fairies...which is why I did rustic than a colorful one when I did do my fairy garden. I like birds and bird watching. So tied in the bird theme to make it more me.

Anyways...I even attempted to add the bird bath and birdhouse to the crapapple pot. And wrinkled my nose. Took photo and removed it immediately!
Ruined the look of the tree.


Yet...the Tamarix in the training pot that looks like Frankenstein. I can toss a frog...and not think twice. Maybe because it's so rough that I feel it needs a distraction.


It was amazing how they took some sort of succulent plant and offered it's real name...and then listed it also as a maple tree. Shook head at the gullibility of those who may actually think is a variation of a maple. Lol

 

[Anthony]

Darlene,

might I beg that you read up on Chinese scholars, painters and writers before you attempt Penjing.
I have seen so many coarse Western "penjing" it makes me want to cry.

Penjing is similar to Renaissance painting, every thing means something, and requires tons of
planning and thinking.

I have always liked your work, and I believe you can do it though.

Here's looking to your "cadillactaste" penjing.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Cadillactaste]

Darlene,

might I beg that you read up on Chinese scholars, painters and writers before you attempt Penjing.
I have seen so many coarse Western "penjing" it makes me want to cry.

Penjing is similar to Renaissance painting, every thing means something, and requires tons of
planning and thinking.

I have always liked your work, and I believe you can do it though.

Here's looking to your "cadillactaste" penjing.
Good Day
Anthony

Thanks Anthony...totally agree on research. I've a few books on the topic. And would not jump in without proper direction. One day...but,not any day soon.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think the challenge I am having with some of these pairings is that they lack emotional connectedness (is that a correct phrase?). When you style your bonsai, it is going to have an emotional feeling - serenity, age, motion, survival, power, etc - and your accent should compliment that without contrasting or overwhelming the tree.

Compare this accent that my friend @Si Nguyen used with his tree at the Bonsai-a-thon this Spring. Without seeing the tree, you can already feel the emotional stage he is setting for his display. Peaceful, relaxing, calm, informal. If he had used this figurine on his bonsai, it might have felt forced or artificial. But as an accent, I loved it.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I think the challenge I am having with some of these pairings is that they lack emotional connectedness (is that a correct phrase?). When you style your bonsai, it is going to have an emotional feeling - serenity, age, motion, survival, power, etc - and your accent should compliment that without contrasting or overwhelming the tree.

Compare this accent that my friend @Si Nguyen used with his tree at the Bonsai-a-thon this Spring. Without seeing the tree, you can already feel the emotional stage he is setting for his display. Peaceful, relaxing, calm, informal. If he had used this figurine on his bonsai, it might have felt forced or artificial. But as an accent, I loved it.

View attachment 149960

Good point there! Love it!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Take that little fairy birdbath and bird house out of the bonsai pot, and use it as a separate accent, and then pair it with an informal shade tree that looks like an old English garden oak, and you'd have a winner!