bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Is Bonsai on a Budget Possible?

Just wanted to make the point that while there are many opinions on what we do as bonsai here in this country it is very different for us than someone raised in the culture where trees and materials have been handed down generation after generation. We just don't have access to much of what materials and resources some of the other cultures have had even if we go to those places and take classes and learn from masters.

I started learning ten years ago (I am fifty now) I am self taught and know that I have just touched this great ancient art and while I have the rest of my life to continue learning I don't have a great grandfather who knew anything about this, nor a grandfather or father or even a older brother. I won't inheret trees that someone has trained and worked, trees grown from seed that are now twenty years old and partially trained, or even someone to show me the best places to find what I want.

What I do will never be what they did so it will have to be something else. It may still be bonsai but it will be what I make it now, and in this country. I can emulate their styles but I will also go my own way and try new things and learn what I can and if anyone says that what I do isn't bonsai that will be just another opinion to my and you know what they say about opinons.

1-Nov-2007	#28
jad05041957 bonsaiTALK Neophyte Join Date: Oct-2007 Location: Downingtown, PA Posts: 2	Just wanted to make the point that while there are many opinions on what we do as bonsai here in this country it is very different for us than someone raised in the culture where trees and materials have been handed down generation after generation. We just don't have access to much of what materials and resources some of the other cultures have had even if we go to those places and take classes and learn from masters. I started learning ten years ago (I am fifty now) I am self taught and know that I have just touched this great ancient art and while I have the rest of my life to continue learning I don't have a great grandfather who knew anything about this, nor a grandfather or father or even a older brother. I won't inheret trees that someone has trained and worked, trees grown from seed that are now twenty years old and partially trained, or even someone to show me the best places to find what I want. What I do will never be what they did so it will have to be something else. It may still be bonsai but it will be what I make it now, and in this country. I can emulate their styles but I will also go my own way and try new things and learn what I can and if anyone says that what I do isn't bonsai that will be just another opinion to my and you know what they say about opinons.