Huggz13
Mame
I’m new to Bonsai, so everything I’m about to say might be total rubbish. Nevertheless, I’m interested to hear the thoughts of folks with experience, and also the thoughts of those without experience.
I have been thinking about style lately and about “signature styles” in particular.
Do Bonsai artists have a “signature style” per se? Surely they do.
I can’t, but surely someone with more experience can look at a tree and say “oh, that’s definitely a Kobayashi, or Kimura, or Bjorn, or Boon, or Tran”...you get the point.
When people think of Florida, they think of citrus trees, palm trees, tropical plants, and the Art Deco architecture of Miami. They think of South Florida.
But tropical South Florida is not the Florida that I know and love. I live in Northwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. The landscape here is dominated by massive, majestic oaks and towering pines. And our sugar-white beaches and emerald green waters are far superior to those in South Florida... and it’s not even close.
The trees here have been through countless hurricanes, and it shows. Most trees have multiple battle wounds and scars and have been wind swept into all manner of contorted shapes and brokenness.
And yet I see beauty in those wayward branches and holes and callouses and broken limbs. To me it demonstrates the resilience and toughness of nature. But it’s also a reflection of the resilience and tenacity of the people in this region. The people and the trees here are survivors. We get beat down year after year by Mother Nature and we keep coming back and rebuilding.
So I want to not only use native species (as much as possible) to create Bonsai, but I also want what I create to be distinctly Northwest Florida. I want to look at what I’ve done and see my home in it.
I want to develop a signature style that tells the story and reflects the history of this region.
Perhaps I’ll never be skillful enough to do that, but I’d like to try. Of course some others would look at it and scoff and say that it’s not Bonsai. It’s not elegant. It doesn’t follow the guidelines. And that would be true to a certain extent. But it would be truthful if nothing else, and that’s something.
I’m just discovering Bonsai and I don’t know enough about the traditions and forms to know what is right and what is wrong, and what is considered beautiful and what is not, and who is considered a master and who is not. But I was watching some videos on YouTube and I was really pleased to find @Walter Pall talking about the naturalistic style and how there is character and beauty in the warts and scars of the tree he was talking about and I related to it immediately.
So is this all a bunch of nonsense?
Is it possible to have a “Northwest Florida Style” that not only uses native trees but also reflects the region?
Who are some other Bonsai artists who have a regional approach?
Who are some Bonsai artists that you would describe as having a naturalistic style and approach?
Here are some pictures of trees in my hometown (and some that are not, but are like those we typically see) that might illustrate my point.
“But trees like that wouldn’t be Bonsai”, you say.
Yeah... I know. But they’d be home.
I have been thinking about style lately and about “signature styles” in particular.
Do Bonsai artists have a “signature style” per se? Surely they do.
I can’t, but surely someone with more experience can look at a tree and say “oh, that’s definitely a Kobayashi, or Kimura, or Bjorn, or Boon, or Tran”...you get the point.
When people think of Florida, they think of citrus trees, palm trees, tropical plants, and the Art Deco architecture of Miami. They think of South Florida.
But tropical South Florida is not the Florida that I know and love. I live in Northwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. The landscape here is dominated by massive, majestic oaks and towering pines. And our sugar-white beaches and emerald green waters are far superior to those in South Florida... and it’s not even close.
The trees here have been through countless hurricanes, and it shows. Most trees have multiple battle wounds and scars and have been wind swept into all manner of contorted shapes and brokenness.
And yet I see beauty in those wayward branches and holes and callouses and broken limbs. To me it demonstrates the resilience and toughness of nature. But it’s also a reflection of the resilience and tenacity of the people in this region. The people and the trees here are survivors. We get beat down year after year by Mother Nature and we keep coming back and rebuilding.
So I want to not only use native species (as much as possible) to create Bonsai, but I also want what I create to be distinctly Northwest Florida. I want to look at what I’ve done and see my home in it.
I want to develop a signature style that tells the story and reflects the history of this region.
Perhaps I’ll never be skillful enough to do that, but I’d like to try. Of course some others would look at it and scoff and say that it’s not Bonsai. It’s not elegant. It doesn’t follow the guidelines. And that would be true to a certain extent. But it would be truthful if nothing else, and that’s something.
I’m just discovering Bonsai and I don’t know enough about the traditions and forms to know what is right and what is wrong, and what is considered beautiful and what is not, and who is considered a master and who is not. But I was watching some videos on YouTube and I was really pleased to find @Walter Pall talking about the naturalistic style and how there is character and beauty in the warts and scars of the tree he was talking about and I related to it immediately.
So is this all a bunch of nonsense?
Is it possible to have a “Northwest Florida Style” that not only uses native trees but also reflects the region?
Who are some other Bonsai artists who have a regional approach?
Who are some Bonsai artists that you would describe as having a naturalistic style and approach?
Here are some pictures of trees in my hometown (and some that are not, but are like those we typically see) that might illustrate my point.
“But trees like that wouldn’t be Bonsai”, you say.
Yeah... I know. But they’d be home.
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