Vance Wood

I agree that there are more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. We are dealing with two, perhaps three if we talk about the restyled finished bonsai. I have in the past, and even to this day caught flack from those who say I should be dealing with better material. That may be true but in my experience most of the good material I have seen is not that good, at least in relation to the price asked for it. Good material can only be defined by the possibilities inherent in the piece itself.

There have been a couple of times I have spent more than $50 for a tree, once because the material was that good, and once for a work shop tree at a seminar. At the seminar the pieces were assigned by lottery. I can tell you that particular tree was $70 for the workshop tree which gained the title "The Ugly Shimpaku" for those who may remember my now defunct web site. I have since purchased trees for far less money of the same species that were far better and yielded far better trees. However the other tree was of my own choosing. That particular tree is the Japanese Maple you have seen me display from time to time.

In the end it does not matter where you find your trees or how much money you spend on your trees, it depends on the vision you see in your trees. A $500 dollar tree with no vision is worth far less than a $50 dollar tree with a future that touches you in your imagination. So in my way of thinking there are two path takers, those who think big bucks mean great results, and those who look for the potential of great results regardless of the source. One can be hindered by the lack of ability to come up with the price to pay for it, the other can be hindered by the inability to see what is there, neither is mutually inclusive or exclusive. The barrier is not money the barrier is personal vision.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

Advertisement