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Originally posted by FredL
I have little patience with newbies (or, for that matter, not-so-newbies) that express hostility or indifference to the "rules". Sure, go ahead and "do your own thing". Just recognize that it puts you on the outer fringes of our community, makes it unlikely that you will ever do much that is really enjoyed by anybody but yourself and makes it unlikely you will ever be able to communicate with the rest of the Bonsai Community.
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Fred, you were doing soo good until that...
I have this so called "indifference" to the rules. I do my own thing. My trees don't look like freak show exhibits (I hope).
I can communicate with others in the bonsai world, and trade styling suggestions. Friends and family enjoy me trees.
Splinter summed up my viewpoint:
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Getting caught up in the "rules" can limit ones way of seeing, thinking, and feeling. There is something sad about one believing they're an artist, yet they always stay within "the lines." That's not to say there aren't certain principles that should be followed to some degree - but "mental models" are individual, as are we.
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Walter, your "impressive natural trees" mental model works for me. I have done, (and still do) 'canned tree' copies, and I get great enjoyment from that. But always there is the thought that I'm only copying other bonsai, not creating one of my own.
I would like to quote Peter Adams, from 5/2002 issue of bonsai europe:
Do first look at adult trees in nature rather than styling according to the latest bonsai fad. Or worse, by falling back on those ludicrous 'rules' of styling disposition, which are the bonsai equivalent of painting by numbers.
Regards,
TB