Style question

[Dirty Nails]

I spend a lot of time looking at bonsai trying to get the aesthetics burned in to my brain. I have noticed there are some trees that look a lot like people's bodies. Some look like they are ready to walk, some like they are holding trays like a waiter, some like they are dancing, some like they are reaching out to shake someones hand. I even saw a ROR once that looked like it was rock climbing with 2 arms, 2 legs and a head.
Is there a term or name for this style? Like a subcatergory of informal upright? I like them for being so dynamic while being balanced. Like a great athlete. I hope I am explaining myself clearly and don't have any specific examples on my computer now.

or am I just looking at too many trees and need to take a break?

 

[Dave Leppo]

anthropomorphic

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anthropomorphic

 

[fourteener]

I spend a lot of time looking at bonsai trying to get the aesthetics burned in to my brain. I have noticed there are some trees that look a lot like people's bodies. Some look like they are ready to walk, some like they are holding trays like a waiter, some like they are dancing, some like they are reaching out to shake someones hand. I even saw a ROR once that looked like it was rock climbing with 2 arms, 2 legs and a head.
Is there a term or name for this style? Like a subcatergory of informal upright? I like them for being so dynamic while being balanced. Like a great athlete. I hope I am explaining myself clearly and don't have any specific examples on my computer now.

or am I just looking at too many trees and need to take a break?

I wouldn't humanize trees to much, but in regards to balance I think there is something to be learned from the way we achieve balance physically. The head of the tree should always come forward over the foot of the tree. If you and I were having a conversation and you physically looked like you were about to fall over backwards it wold be disturbing. Same is true for a tree.

A Heisman Trophy pose is a good example of weight distribution when there is serious lean. Trees and people fight falling over by having more mass get back to the center. Tree leaning to the right should have more limbs going left. If the head can't be over the foot, then a larger percentage of the mass should be growing back to achieve that balance. That is the way tree grow in nature unless...

the two forms that ignore those rules are windswept(for sure) and Literati, although balance can have an important part of literati tree.

A tree should have a welcoming stance, a place to enter in. It's why we want to see the trunk of a tree, then limbs that sweep out and then back toward the viewers as if to "welcome in" or as you say "shake your hand." Your not off base at all!!

If you see a tree that looks like it's flying it may be in trouble!! Some part of it has to touch the ground!!

 

[Dirty Nails]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anthropomorphic

Yep, that's the word.

 

[catfish chapstick]

the two forms that ignore those rules are windswept(for sure) and Literati, although balance can have an important part of literati tree.

what about semi-cascade?

it's not just the tree that distributes visual weight but the tree with its pot...

I think people always personify things. like curves in a trunk might be sexy and feminine while a "muscular" trunk is masculine... in a human sense because trees are actually neither sexy or have muscles.

 

[berobinson82]

She dances like no one is watching



Just saw this on the FB feed. Thought of this thread.

 

[Dirty Nails]

View attachment 33489

Just saw this on the FB feed. Thought of this thread.

That is just stunning! Thanks for sharing.