Is Bonsai Mirai Live Worth $300/year?

[MichaelS]

I will teach you to be creative right now.

Supplies needed:
1 sheet of paper (doesn’t matter what size as long as it is large enough that you will be able to fold it; doesn’t matter what shape it is either), 1 instrument that you can make marks with (pencil, pen, marker, crayon, paintbrush, etc.; doesn’t matter which one or what color as long as the color you choose contrasts with and can be seen when applied to the paper), flat surface to work on

Procedure:
1. Fold and crease the paper along a line oriented in any direction that you choose that meets the following constraints: It must not be parallel or perpendicular to any straight exterior edge of the paper. It must not be collinear with vertices of the exterior edge of the paper. The fold must be done in such a way that, after the fold divides the paper in two, the section with the smaller area comprises no less than 10% of the total area.
2. Unfold the paper.
3. Pick the first word that comes to mind when you think of your high school math teacher.
4. Now consider that word and identify a common household object that is in some way related to the word that you thought of in the previous step.
5. Draw a picture of that common household object to one side of the dividing line of the fold. The orientation and position of the object relative to the fold line can be whatever you want it to be.
6. After you’ve drawn the object, shade in the remaining area on that side of the fold line.
7. Think of the object that you drew. Make a list of adjectives that describe the object.
8. Consider your list of adjectives. Can you think of the first names of any people who could also be described with those adjectives? If so, write their names on the other side of the fold line. If there are no people who can be described using those adjectives, write 3 of the adjectives on the other side of the fold line.
9. Post a picture of your sheet of paper.
10. Contemplate the process you went through in this exercise. Can you think of some underlying principles guiding the process? Why did we do it this way? What did the final result look like? What about this process worked? What didn’t?

Who's the creative one, the person who thought up this exercise or the person it's intended for. The choreographer or the dancer? The composer or the musician?

 

[Anthony]

Saddler,

with Bonsai - simply
[1] Go out and look at single trees in nature.

[2] Can't draw - no problem - image and print a tree on paper
Image from 3 times the greatest distance, height of tree, width of
tree....

[3] Place good tracing paper over the image and trace with a 9b pencil.

[4 ] Just the act of tracing the outline of the tree will build your imagination.

Imagination is things seen re-shuffled by your brain. Happens naturally
think dreams.

[5] You can also trace for branches [ trees defoliated in nature ]
trace for roots, etc.

[6 ] Then when you have traced enough of trees - sit relax and
recombine from memory.
Good Luck
Anthony

To get you started - an outline tracing of a Ficus bonsai - source
Canada.
Try a real tree that you like, bring it here and ask questions.

 

[jeanluc83]

I haven't watched a single video

And there it is. It good that you are against something that you haven't even seen. Way to be closed minded. You have spent the better part of a month and thousands of words to rail against something based on your preconceived notions.

 

[Anthony]

Saddler,

take a look at - A few Images
Left in the Tea Room.

The first one is - Time - took almost 2 years to do.
A lot of information to collect and then to paint.
Dedication, discipline and a lot of physical work.
The oil study / oil sketch is the easy part.

Paint is also hand mulled - pigment on glass with a muller
to make paint , hand mixed and then tubed.

Bonsai is much easier - ha ha ha.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Lorax7]

Who's the creative one, the person who thought up this exercise or the person it's intended for. The choreographer or the dancer? The composer or the musician?

The algorithm presented is simply an example aimed at getting the student to follow a creative process that we can then talk about afterward to learn something more generally about how creativity works and how the student might subsequently go off in their own direction.

 

[Lorax7]

Before I get to the rest, is one of those sentences able to be true with the othe not?


I like it. I like it a lot. View attachment 203715

The purpose of that constraint was simply to rule out the ways of folding paper that everybody was taught in grade school. I wanted you to make your own decision about where to put the fold line instead of doing it the “normal” way.

 

[Lorax7]

I’ve done it once. And I’ll do it again. I think I can improve on this mental exercise a lot. I am slow to process new ideas because I see too many possibilities. Give me another person to start with. I could choose one but I feel the end result is already a foregone conclusion.

What didn’t work.... I didn’t take my time thinking about it

What worked... the exercise in general. This is a thought process I am not accustomed to. I can feel my tiny brain is a little tired from doing this exercise.

Ok. Another person: the barista at your favorite coffee shop, your maternal grandmother, or actress Anne Hathaway. But, you could pick someone else not on the list and that would work too. The choice is, of course, entirely arbitrary. That is actually one of key things to notice about creativity. It involves making choices and at least some of those choices are arbitrary.

 

[rockm]

In my history with bonsai, I've found that the "creative process" is more of an accumulation of understanding the techniques used to create them. Once you understand the "how" of making bonsai, the creative landscape opens up.

For instance, it took me a few years before I realized that growing bonsai up was mostly the opposite of how it was done. The lights went on when I got a copy of Peter Chan's "Bonsai Masterclass" in the early 90's. The book isn't all that remarkable now, but it has a chapter on trunk chopping. I'd never seen that before, or rather really understood what was going on.

That simple technique unlocked my brain into considering what was "bonsai material" and how it could be manipulated. the same process goes into creating branches on deciduous trees.

Inspiration for bonsai comes from just looking at old trees and forests--nothing more, nothing less. I don't know if that is a talent or not. I have been an outdoors person all my life, so I use landscape and tree images I've accumulated in my head on hunting, camping and hikes.

 

[Anthony]

Grew up around trees, climbed them, picked fruit, fell
out of them, slept under them, took shelter from sun and rain.
Emotional response.

Eventually gramps, took us to live in the town, and I missed
them,
Fortunately my neighbour was adventurous and took me to
San Fernando hill. Trees!!!!!!!
Then my next door buddy, started growing trees in mud.
And the rest is history.
Yeah Rockm, I understand you.

Add on hikes through our version of Mountains.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Vance Wood]

In my history with bonsai, I've found that the "creative process" is more of an accumulation of understanding the techniques used to create them. Once you understand the "how" of making bonsai, the creative landscape opens up.

For instance, it took me a few years before I realized that growing bonsai up was mostly the opposite of how it was done. The lights went on when I got a copy of Peter Chan's "Bonsai Masterclass" in the early 90's. The book isn't all that remarkable now, but it has a chapter on trunk chopping. I'd never seen that before, or rather really understood what was going on.

That simple technique unlocked my brain into considering what was "bonsai material" and how it could be manipulated. the same process goes into creating branches on deciduous trees.

Inspiration for bonsai comes from just looking at old trees and forests--nothing more, nothing less. I don't know if that is a talent or not. I have been an outdoors person all my life, so I use landscape and tree images I've accumulated in my head on hunting, camping and hikes.

There is nothing like the epiphany moment that comes into the life of those open and seeking a revelation which yields a significant direction change. There is nothing more discouraging than laboring over something that seems more of a penal colony exercise of breaking big rocks into little rocks. The realization that the direction has changed is a balm to the spirit.

 

[Bananaman]

And there it is. It good that you are against something that you haven't even seen. Way to be closed minded. You have spent the better part of a month and thousands of words to rail against something based on your preconceived notions.

Yes but what you leave out is that I've personally known Ryan since he was a freshman in collage, sat next to him in club meetings helping him with his home depot junipers and he comes to Fresno four times a year to help with the collection. I have said that many times. Why did you leave that out, like the liberals do against Trump. Because it reinforces your negative conotation against me. That is all. You watch a video, I KNOW HIM. I've seen it for twenty +years..nothing new....in my opinion

 

[jeanluc83]

Yes but what you leave out is that I've personally known Ryan since he was a freshman in collage, sat next to him in club meetings helping him with his home depot junipers and he comes to Fresno four times a year to help with the collection. I have said that many times. Why did you leave that out, like the liberals do against Trump. Because it reinforces your negative conotation against me. That is all. You watch a video, I KNOW HIM. I've seen it for twenty +years..nothing new....in my opinion

You have just reinforced my point. Your opinion is based on a preconceived notion from your past relationship with Ryan. The question was "Is Bonsai Mirai Live Worth $300/Year?" You have gone on to answer the question and belittle anyone who doesn’t agree with your assessment despite the fact that you have not actually seen any of the videos.

At this point you are against the idea of Mirai Live. Just like a lot of things in life what you think things are and what they actually are can be two completely different things.

Since you like challenges, I challenge you to watch one of the free videos offered on Mirai. There is one about a nursery blue rug juniper that would be perfect. Then come back here and do a critique of it. I look forward to hearing your insight.

 

[Saddler]

In my history with bonsai, I've found that the "creative process" is more of an accumulation of understanding the techniques used to create them. Once you understand the "how" of making bonsai, the creative landscape opens up.

For instance, it took me a few years before I realized that growing bonsai up was mostly the opposite of how it was done. The lights went on when I got a copy of Peter Chan's "Bonsai Masterclass" in the early 90's. The book isn't all that remarkable now, but it has a chapter on trunk chopping. I'd never seen that before, or rather really understood what was going on.

That simple technique unlocked my brain into considering what was "bonsai material" and how it could be manipulated. the same process goes into creating branches on deciduous trees.

Inspiration for bonsai comes from just looking at old trees and forests--nothing more, nothing less. I don't know if that is a talent or not. I have been an outdoors person all my life, so I use landscape and tree images I've accumulated in my head on hunting, camping and hikes.

This! This is why I think creativity can be learned. Early on in my cooking career I wondered if I would ever be able to learn how to properly pair flavours, use textures and know when something needed a little more acid or sweetness. Seeing head chefs creating some pretty outstanding dishes and wondering if I could ever get there. I’ve spent my whole career being focused on food and now I am the only person other then the head chef with dishes on the menu in one of Canada best restaurants. I get to create anything I want food wise, fermented meat I experimented is going into production. Everything I make is my own recipe. I look around the web to get flavour ideas but Wikipedia is my biggest contributor.

My point is, if I can learn enough skills, the creativity becomes that much easier to access. For me, my creativity comes solely from finding solutions to problems and what is a bonsai but one continuous problem?

 

[Bananaman]

You have just reinforced my point. Your opinion is based on a preconceived notion from your past relationship with Ryan. The question was "Is Bonsai Mirai Live Worth $300/Year?" You have gone on to answer the question and belittle anyone who doesn’t agree with your assessment despite the fact that you have not actually seen any of the videos.

Please post a quote of belittling anyone for watching the videos. I have not told anyone to not watch them. I have given my opinion which I am entitled to, and asked for validation of what has been learned and applied at home. That is all. I still have seen no one show anything nor posted something that they learned that made a difference in their tree. Things that I post here all the time. Things like tieing trees into a pot without soil underneath to increase flare and nebari. No one, neither from Japan nor any American apprentice has ever done that. That is all me. I don’t see anyone here giving slavish praise for that? I guess if I parroted that from an apprenticeship in Japan I would be considered a rock star.... but I digress.

 

[jeanluc83]

Please post a quote of belittling anyone for watching the videos.

All right, I'll play along.

You have 17 posts here. I have been on internet forums for well over 23 years. I have pretty much seen and read most every post on all of the forums I have been on. I can guarantee you that at one time most all you can learn on that video has probably been said or shared here at one time or another.

 

[Bananaman]

All right, I'll play along.

Is the second box your quote? If it is, that’s not belittling, that’s a fact. If you wish to debate my facts, I would be very receptive.

 

[Cable]

Is this a challenge tree?

If it is lets start a thread so they are all in one place. And please tell us something about your thought process on this interesting piece. You can start the thread yourself with this piece and I will post mine later to it also.

Yes, it was in response to you saying to take a $10 tree and apply $5 wire showing what was learned from watching videos. I did it in a workshop that had a live instructor but I got more out of the videos than the workshop (I was helping more than listening).

I don't recall my exact thought process but I styled that in like 15 minutes. Cleaned up the tree and noticed the one long branch and I thought it would look nice as a cascade. There was a branch on the other side that I didn't like so I took it off. The other two fairly large branches I took to the same side as the main one because the tree seemed to be flowing in that direction. Not quite a windswept but in the same spirit.

 

[jeanluc83]

Is the second box your quote? If it is, that’s not belittling, that’s a fact. If you wish to debate my facts, I would be very receptive.

Just because it is a fact it does not mean it is not belittling.

be·lit·tle verb make (someone or something) seem unimportant

 

[Saddler]

Just because it is a fact it does not mean it is not belittling.

I disagree what he said was belittling. If he had said “you ONLY have 17 posts”, then it could be considered belittling. He only stated a fact to try and put his point into context.

 

[Paulpash]

Has Al shown his fuzzy balls yet?
Must bookmark this thread....