I saw this commercial recently and it made me think about one of my very early experiences in the world of Bonsai. Take a second and watch this video...(you really only need to watch the first 12 sec.) Then read on and you will understand why I titled this post.."What makes a bonsai good?"
Acura MDX Commercial
Not long after I started keeping bonsai, I discovered a Bonsai nursery in Pigeon Forge, TN. I don't remember the name of the nursery but it had obviously been there a long time. The proprietor greeted me, I think his name was Charles, and began to answer my many questions. As I walked awe struck through his trees, first experience at a real bonsai nursery for me, I eventually got around to the question, "What makes a bonsai good?" Instead of answering with a lot of hubbub about art or this and that...he thought for second and then said something to the effect of - A good bonsai is one you can have a picnic under! I thought the old bugger had lost it...
It probably took a year, or more, before I really understood the profound implications of his response. For me, his response referred to the idea that a "good" bonsai is one that allows the viewer to imagine it in a natural setting. Therefore, his picnic metaphor simply meant that in his mind he could imagine a given tree in a natural setting...thus meaning that you might possibly be able to spread the blanket and have a n imaginary picnic under the tree.
This notion has stayed with me ever since. I still find that the trees I like most are the ones that carry my mind into a temporary daydream. Not necessarily a picnic but often the adventure might be on a mountain cliff, a solitary tree in an open field, the edge of forest, or a towering old giant from the swamp...or countless other images locked away in my mind that come floating to the surface for a temporary excursion.
Does anyone else remember when they made this realization? or have had a similar experience?
John
Acura MDX Commercial
Not long after I started keeping bonsai, I discovered a Bonsai nursery in Pigeon Forge, TN. I don't remember the name of the nursery but it had obviously been there a long time. The proprietor greeted me, I think his name was Charles, and began to answer my many questions. As I walked awe struck through his trees, first experience at a real bonsai nursery for me, I eventually got around to the question, "What makes a bonsai good?" Instead of answering with a lot of hubbub about art or this and that...he thought for second and then said something to the effect of - A good bonsai is one you can have a picnic under! I thought the old bugger had lost it...
It probably took a year, or more, before I really understood the profound implications of his response. For me, his response referred to the idea that a "good" bonsai is one that allows the viewer to imagine it in a natural setting. Therefore, his picnic metaphor simply meant that in his mind he could imagine a given tree in a natural setting...thus meaning that you might possibly be able to spread the blanket and have a n imaginary picnic under the tree.
This notion has stayed with me ever since. I still find that the trees I like most are the ones that carry my mind into a temporary daydream. Not necessarily a picnic but often the adventure might be on a mountain cliff, a solitary tree in an open field, the edge of forest, or a towering old giant from the swamp...or countless other images locked away in my mind that come floating to the surface for a temporary excursion.
Does anyone else remember when they made this realization? or have had a similar experience?
John
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