Originally Posted by bnsaijim

Who am I?- really no-one just some little guy (literally) from Texas whom Dan probably wouldn't even remember. Never taught more than beginners and you've never seen my name in the magazines.

HA... your words betray your experiance... I'm not interested in famous... just facts and their various perspectives.

Dan is a wonderful person and one of the pioneers in American bonsai. His passion and skill in the collecting of natural material is unsurpassed. He was probably the major influence on the use of powertools in the US and Europe- he brought the spark.

Couldn't agree more... he did indeed.

Additionally he advocates several Robinsonisms that caused me to look at trees in nature with new eyes.

When I went to the garden for the second time I was blown away by the experiance of it... I look forward to time and my own personal experiance changing how I see even his bonsai... or any bonsai for that matter that I may come across.

I do however think the carving, as pointed out, is unnatural in appearance, primitive and in the longest time perspective, ill conceived. I don't fully appreciate his styling as well.

Fair enough... I have no experiance to argue the point. I just enjoy the work that he does... It is true that I have never seen the like of it before.


I had the opportunity to work with Kimura when he came to Dallas and managed to slip in a question about carving shape across the grain. He looked at me like I was a complete idiot; his (translated) reply was something to the effect of "Never! Why would you do that? It will crack, not last"

lol... thats amusing. I think it's a truism that all Masters works are critqued to death, by one and all... For the moment, for myself, the imperfections or inappropreiate nature of the carving does not diminish my pleasure in it...

The deadwood of the trees I worked with Dan on in the early days "failed". Both artistically and structurally. The cracks created weak points. The elements weaken this wood further and the curls on my "ribbon candy" split off. The wood eventually becomes the flattish spike of deadwood it should have been to start with. I've had to re-work these trees into convincing images.

I would love to see some pics or references to any gallery where your trees are... I mean that in all sincere and kind interest.

He is proponent of wildly twisting branches because that is the way they grow in the wild. These twisting branches are to have sparse lollipops of foliage because these trees are from harsh environments. I agree, in principle, with both these articles of the Robinson agenda.

So your ram-rod straight formal upright trunk has twisting branches with lollipops of foliage. When universally applied, as Dan will, this is neither bonsai nor is it approaching perhaps a Disney-esque or Seussian caricature of a tree that will be successful either. While one might contend that this perhaps is simply his interpretaion and justification of the Horai/octopus style, this has never quite worked for me other than as an oddity of bonsai.

Would you possibly be willing to reference what you might consider a successful bonsai in the Horai style? I was curious about the unusual approach to crown development in his trees... but it did not disappoint me. It spoke to me in a almost penjing fashion.

I hope the paradoxical influence of the Robinson on my own work has come through. In my naivete I once thought he was the bee's knees. As I've progressed I've had to reconcile a lot of what I learned. The man is a pioneer- he lit the carving bonfire. He made it okay for something other than conifers to have deadwood. Driven, enthusuastic, a rebel; he has clarified his own personal vision. He'd surely kick my tail all the way up and back down the mountain. For these traits I admire him. But don't ask me about his carving, his trees... his ability to judge the age of trees...

I will grant you in it's entirety the joke that is his aging technique. I giggled and scratched my head over that. But I set it aside as his eccentric "thing" I would allow him...lol

I will even grant you a valid opinion on his carving based on your personal experiance with him as a teacher...

I do have to disagree about the trees by and large though... there were a GREAT many traditional trees that did NOT get posted... I was seeking to post the more detailed carve work... not general trees. I will have to throw up a few maybe so as to not discredit the master. And yes... he is a Master in the minds and hearts of many. I took hundreds of pics of his trees... literally.

I would suggest you really contemplate the work appearing below; look at the work of other carvers. Use this as an influence to grow upon. I'm sorry but the Emperor is naked...

HAHAHA the Emperor isn't naked.... he just has a different fashion sense... However I will take ALL that you said (including the odd bits here and there I cut out, under advisment.

I truly thank you for the time you took to post all of that. I think it will add to the experiance of others who will read it, and to my own...