Kazari 2019

[Carol 83]

I missed this thread first time around.

That accent piece is amazing. However I agree with the judges' comments. It is too much for a display.

That doesn't stop me from admiring it and wanting it To me, it is extremely reminiscent of growing up in farm lands in the MidWest; the never-ending rusted barbed-wire fencing, the red-winged blackbirds sitting on the fence-posts singing. I think the accent would have been just as nice and potentially more impactful if you had limited it to just the grass (without the ground cover).

Makes me want to try something similar for a fall display with perhaps an oak or maple.

Interesting how some people associate barbed-wire with war and prison. I associate it with dairy cattle

Plenty of barbed-wire here not associated with war or prisons, just livestock. We had to put up an electric fence up very winter to keep the cows and my horses from venturing out on the pond once it snowed after a couple cows broke through the ice and drowned.

 

[kakejiku]

The primary scroll cloth is too loud for my taste. I am waiting to hear from a poster and tell me he made it, that will explain it. It's well made just garish.

View attachment 236390

This is an entertaining post...For one, I did not make this scroll, and two I find it entertaining that someone who owns 30+ scrolls is now an expert on how
to not only judge if a scrolls cloths are garish, but if they are appropriate.

Guess what, I make more than 30 scrolls for customers in a years time.

I have had professional scrollmakers in Japan that do this for a living everyday give my pattern and color selections the compliment of being "Shibui"
Shibui would be the opposite of garish. Here is a simple explanation of the term from Wikipedia. Shibui (渋い) (adjective), shibumi (渋み) (noun), or shibusa (渋さ) (noun) are Japanese words which refer to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty.[1]

And if you can not explain the difference as to why a Maru Hyougu scroll with narrow Hashira would be more appropriate for this display than a Nidan
Hyougu scroll, or how a mountain slope would have been a better theme to utilize in the painting if using Bishamon, then maybe you should not comment as to the use of scrolls in a display...

 

[Smoke]

This is an entertaining post...For one, I did not make this scroll, and two I find it entertaining that someone who owns 30+ scrolls is now an expert on how
to not only judge if a scrolls cloths are garish, but if they are appropriate.

Guess what, I make more than 30 scrolls for customers in a years time.

I have had professional scrollmakers in Japan that do this for a living everyday give my pattern and color selections the compliment of being "Shibui"
Shibui would be the opposite of garish. Here is a simple explanation of the term from Wikipedia. Shibui (渋い) (adjective), shibumi (渋み) (noun), or shibusa (渋さ) (noun) are Japanese words which refer to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty.[1]

And if you can not explain the difference as to why a Maru Hyougu scroll with narrow Hashira would be more appropriate for this display than a Nidan
Hyougu scroll, or how a mountain slope would have been a better theme to utilize in the painting if using Bishamon, then maybe you should not comment as to the use of scrolls in a display...

Guess what, for one, he told me you made it. If you didn't, fine maybe he was mistaken.

For two. What I think about the cloth is a personal taste. I could care less if you made a thousand scrolls with this cloth and professionals in Japan told you it had Shibu. For me it's way too garish.

This is a discussion forum and all posts are treated the same. If you think I'm an expert, thank you very much. I have always only given a personal opinion. I have given many here. If you have a different opinion, fire away. That's what we come here for. If you just want to come here and piss on everything, pound sand. but....If you wish to keep it personal, the last thing I need here is a scroll hack telling me how to display bonsai.

 

[Meh]

Thank you for the educational post.

 

[kakejiku]

Guess what, for one, he told me you made it. If you didn't, fine maybe he was mistaken.

For two. What I think about the cloth is a personal taste. I could care less if you made a thousand scrolls with this cloth and professionals in Japan told you it had Shibu. For me it's way too garish.

This is a discussion forum and all posts are treated the same. If you think I'm an expert, thank you very much. I have always only given a personal opinion. I have given many here. If you have a different opinion, fire away. That's what we come here for. If you just want to come here and piss on everything, pound sand. but....If you wish to keep it personal, the last thing I need here is a scroll hack telling me how to display bonsai.

And that sentiment is why you will not improve to the top and just middle along...

 

[Ali Raza]

My vote is with # 1.
All trees are amazing.

 

[kakejiku]

Since the OP said we can express opinions, and he provided a display....

So I set to work figuring out how I would use this to my advantage. I went up late one night and found the post that would fit my need. I sawed off about 10 inches of the post and screwed another portion back on. I was able to find some of the barbed wire loose near a tree and scarfed a foot or so. Then I set about making my accent.

I used a bowl of suitable size, (too large I would find out) and made my accent. Using the post and wire I simulated what I had driven by a hundred times since I was a child. I shot my first quail near here, fished that stream when it used to be fuller and just enjoyed this place.

View attachment 236334

So the name of my display was called "Butterflies and Barbs" a cute interplay on the items I chose to display. I chose a pyracantha to display along with a scroll with butterflies.

View attachment 236335

The judging, and the comments.

First I had flowers in the accent and in the scroll = redundancy
The accent was too large and competed with the tree
The accent was too plant heavy with so many species
Felt the scroll was a little high
The stand and the jitta were same color

Since the OP posted this and we are a discussion forum, I will give my critique of the display.
The judges got the point about redundancy correct. But we need to ask ourselves...why is redundancy so frowned upon. One could possibly think that it has to do with making the story easy to be understood. But for me, the primary reason is the bonsai should be the focal point of the display. Everything should be placed so that although they exist in the display, the bonsai is the first and primary element of the display you should see. Sorry, in this display I just can't take my eyes off of a piece of barbed wire and a colorful butterfly to even see the bonsai. (This answered the second and third points as well)

As for the scroll being too high up, I would disagree and say it is at the correct height. What problem arises is the fact that the scroll does not provide an ever critical aspect of near/far perspective that can help the bonsai be the focal point of the display. In this case the butterfly is so large your eye goes to it first...So when you are taking a snapshot of time you need to make the other elements go smaller by providing an alternative perspective, or more negative space to make the bonsai stand out. Here is an example that I feels illustrates this point very well.

This is a white pine in what they called "like" a bunjin styling. The accent is a 寒ワラビ. In the painting is a hawk in a circling motion. I know...everyone on the forum is going to say I can not see the detail in the painting. But that is the point. Anything larger and the tree, already a shohin, is going to be overpowered. But everything in this display tells me I am on a hill or mountain, near a white pine, in winter or at least colder months. You can all envision this right? Be honest with yourself, where does your eye go in this display. To the tree. The tree is the focal point.

As for the colors of the stand and jiita, more than color I would be looking at the material and whether it was imported, exotic wood or native. However, the shapes are complimentary.

As for how I would construct the OP's display....1. Use a tree that would be growing near that fence. Maybe an oak? Not sure, but I don't see a pyracantha in this scene.
2. Small accent. Nothing grows better than a good Johnson grass next to an old fence post. 3. Put the fence in the picture on the scroll, but make it Black and White and set it in the distance to make the bonsai the focal point.

But...what the hell do I really know. I am just a scroll Hack. And this is what I completed today for customers in Florida and California.

 

[atlarsenal]

I know nothing about scrolls nor do I want to know anything about them. But whoever is hanging and displaying them should invest in a level! 80% of these shown are crooked which gets on my fuckin nerves!