Yamadori shohin spruce

[october]

Hello all.. This was a tree I purchased a couple of months ago from John Kirby. A great artist and a great guy. This tree was originally collected by Dan robinson in Canada about 10 years ago. Upon selling the tree to me, John had suggested to do the work on it in July. It is hard to believe 2 months has already gone by.

Anyway, here is the tree. The tree is around 8 inches tall with a 3 inch base.

Here are some befores and afters.

Rob

 

[Vance Wood]

Very nice work. You have put it on a path to a brilliant future.

 

[Dav4]

Great little tree, Rob, and nice first styling, too.

 

[John Romano]

Wonderful Rob! You were lucky to find it at John's - even though you tripped me while running to it
Great job working both the bare lower-mid left side and the funky top. Can't make out how you moved things around up there but well done.

 

[october]

Thanks Vance.. I hope the tree remains in great health. I do not intend to do any work on it for a long time. It was repotted buy John Kirby at the very beginning of the season. So, it can stay where it is, undisturbed for a few years.

Thanks Dave.. This tree was purchased when we held our bonsai shohin group meeting at his house. I am hoping to make it back there someday. He has a ton of great material.

Hello John and thank you very much.. You should be more careful so as not to trip while looking for trees...Ya, there were no branches on 2/3 of the left side. Took a back branch and swung it around and then took a few of the other back branches and pulld them to the side to add depth. The sharp turn of the trunk in the apex was minimized by rotating the tree a bit and also bringing a couple of apex branches down in front of it.

Thanks all for the replies

Rob

 

[october]

p.s. If anyone is interested.. Here are the other views of the tree.

Back
Left
Right
Top

 

[Vance Wood]

Just my opinion but showing all sides proves a point; a well designed tree looks believable from all angles. Sometimes, especially with beginners, design tends to focus on the perceived front and its profile, at the expense of the rest of the tree. In the end the tree, when rotated as this one has been, will appear unbalanced or full of flaws that do not appear to be the results of natural influences. I remember my first attempt at a formal upright; from my chosen front the tree looked the way I thought it should look according to the numbers, first branch, second branch, back branch etc. In the end the tree was my first flat bonsai, everything went right or left and nothing back and forward.

A number of years ago a friend of mine wrote an article about the 360 degree bonsai. To a greater rather than lesser degree this article was correct except in the definition of a single front, when in certain instances this is impossible to ignore because of certain elements that should be highlighted and the shape of the chosen pot. It does however; cause the artist to consider the tree from the entire rotation of the tree. This Spruce is evidence of an execution of three dimensional thinking.

 

[october]

Thank you Vance.. Ironically enough, the tree's balanced 360 look just came naturally with the styling of the front view. It is well balanced for a newly styled yamadori. Also, balance and health go hand in hand. I was happy that the branches were not over lapping as you look down at the tree. Lots of light can hit each branch.

Rob

 

[amkhalid]

Great job man. Sweet little tree!

 

[edprocoat]

Very sharp tree man! I would bet its ancient too looking at that trunk it does not look to be chopped by anything other than the hand of ma nature herself. Being from Canada what do you expect the main challenge keeping it happy at your location will be? I think I remember your being from N.J., of course I have been wrong before. I was asking as this tree has to be accustomed to long and harsh winters up north and the farther south you go the warmer it will have to deal with, and of course if you are from N.J. you will have to protect it from the Jersey devil. Flying down and grabbing it with those hooves would sure do it in.

ed

 

[Adair M]

Ed I just happen to know the seller owned this tree in Arkansas and kept it there for 7 years or so. He says it will do fine in New Jersey. He says it might not do well where I live, in Georgia, but NJ is perfect.

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

You put a very beautiful triangle on a gnarly old tree....

You KNEW I had to say that right??

Hugs,

V

 

[october]

Hi ed.. I am from Massachusetts... Basically a similar climate to New Jersey.

Thanks Miss Vic..The traingle wsa already there.. I just trimmed away to reveal it..

Rob

 

[davetree]

This is a great tree, really has a lot of character. What kind of pot are you looking at for it's future ?

 

[davetree]

Oh, and great job styling too.

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

Thanks Miss Vic..The traingle wsa already there.. I just trimmed away to reveal it..

Rob

As you are so fond of reminding me, my friend, triangles are everywhere... the question at hand is when to set aside that image, so that the trunk and the structure can be in harmony. Because as beautiful as that triangle is... it isn't in harmony. Which isn't to say it doesn't look good... it looks great in fact... but it looks like a 60 yo woman who has forgotten she's not 16. She can be hot as hell... and still you are left with the nagging feeling that someone should say something to her.

I don't say this to take anything away from your work, because it's always pleasing, lovely, and technically excellent... I say this because I respect your intellect and artistry like few other people I know. I'm wanting to challenge you, because I believe you are capable of honoring beauty and age at the same time.

This is of course said through the filter of my own vision, which you are deeply familiar with after all these years... I mention this because most people, who rightly respect you, might not realize that you and I have enough grounding to offer personal truths to one another.

With deepest respect,

Victrinia

 

[october]

Hi davetree...I had not considered another pot. However, since the tree does have a little bit of a cascade quality to it. It will probably need to be in a pot with similar proportions to this one. So maybe something similar, with a little more design to it.. We will have to wait and see. I have while since the tree was repotted this year.

Hello Miss Vic.. I really wish that we lived closer.. I think it would be so much fun, interesting and educational for us to be able to have our debates and disagreements while actually being in the presence of each other and the trees at hand. I do know that every tree deserves it's best, triangle or not. The thing with this tree was it had a couple of choices. It could have been a tree where there was only foliage on the right. Basically, 2 foliage pads. The other choice was maybe a short cascade or informal upright. I thought that the tree would look best, from a classic sense. As you know, I am classically trained from having trained with Suthin and John and watching Master Tsukada and others when they visit the nursery.

John Kirby actually sold me this tree. He has seen a pic of it since the styling and really liked it. He also said that he was wondering if he should do an informal upright or cascade. There were definitely other possibilties as far as styling. Ironically enough, about a month or so before I purchased this tree. I posted a thread if anyone had or knew of a shohin spruce with a fat trunk. Almost like a sumo style. It was an amazing coincidence that soon after I found this tree. Shohin spruces with fat trunks and good branching are incredibly hard to come by. ..So I have to admit when this material came along, I did want to see my vision, come to fruition even before I had the tree.

I am glad you speak your opinion to me. Please don't ever hold back. I always an interested in it and respect it. Remember about 6 years ago, when we would show each other trees and one person would make a suggestion and the other person would say..Wow, I didn't think about that. I think we bothed learned things from each other during that time period. Also, whenever you post an opinion.. There has never been a time where I completely disagreed. In fact, I usually think..she does have a good point.

p.s. I think that you might not be used to someone taking one of Dan's trees and putting a classic design to it. Also, as far as the 60 year old woman analogy.. Have you seen Raquel Welch and Sophia Loren at 60....They pull it off quite nicely

Rob

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

Rob...

lol of course John liked it... there's much to appreciate in it... it's not wrong by any means. What I am saying is that I would have liked to see more honor given to it's age and the form one would find appropriate to that age. Fortunately you're just starting on it... lots of opportunity to modify it as you grow it out and give character to the branches and structure.

Your friend,

V

 

[october]

I do see your point...I need to mention that the more years that I spend in bonsai, (coming up on 14) the more that I am drawn to and influenced by the classic Japanese style. The "Japanese do everything for a reason". Nothing they do is random or by accident. The more I study, especially watching the masters when they visit the nursery. The more I see their points and ways of doing things. Their views and ideologies regarding bonsai just seem to make for structural beauty that is almost omnipotent. I am grateful just for the fact that I understand why they follow the principles that they follow. Although I still maintain the philosophy of whatever is the best for the individual tree, I feel if you create a nice bonsai, there is some and in most cases a large classical influence.

Also, I do not want to speak for an area or person. However, it seems that around here, the classical Japanese influence is very strong. When you learn and learn from the visiting masters. It is almost pure classical influence.

Sincerely,
Rob

 

[Victrinia Ensor]

I'm not sure if you mean modern... because truly classical bonsai has a lot less to do with the magic triangle than one might thing. Modernist expressions of Japanese bonsai do very much so... But what's artistically prevalent in Japanese bonsai isn't what I'd call classical.



Pre-war... turn of the century... That's my definition of classical. I'm splitting hairs with you, but I want to make sure newer learners know the difference. I have a pretty good library Eric and I have collected over the last several years, and even 30 years ago, Japanese bonsai didn't look the way it does now. Like all living art, they have adapted it over time. My own style tends to be a blending of naturalistic and modern... where Eric's is strictly naturalistic, and yours is strictly modern.

Just an observation on an interesting conversation....

Victrinia