bonsaial1

We hear it all the time;
"I only do bonsai for the fun of it".
"I'm really not that concearned about my bonsai yet, I'm not a professional"
"I do bonsai just to relax".
"I don't care to show my bonsai, I make them to please me."
" bonsai is just a hobby, I'm not that concearned about artistry'.

We say these thing for some unknown reason. Why is this? Are we ashamed that our bonsai prowess has not developed as fast as one would like. Is it easier to just submit to the notion that one is just a craftsperson.

Why would one come to a forum to discuss bonsai, the art, the craft, the techniques, warts and all, and just say that they just prefer to do it in their backyard. I smell a rat here. I don't think there is one person here that is not an artist.

I am an artist!
I am not ashamed to say it. I may not be the artist in the sense of the word to some people, but if I allow myself to slide backwards to that thinking, then everything I have learned thus far is for naught.

Does one not strive to make the best bonsai possible?
Does one gather as much information as possible to achieve just one more technique?
Do you sit and look at bonsai magazines and wish that someday you could own just one masterpiece?
When browsing the pages of the new magazine, do you dream of having just a few of you works published in a magazine?
Have you ever dreamed of being asked to do the demonstration at your local club?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the world bonsai community knocking on your door for your expertise in convention demo's?

While this list may be very long, and not to everyone's liking, it goes a long way towards pointing out that bonsai has to, and should be thought of as more than just a pastime.
Everyone likes to have their trees admired when the are in full bloom, whether thats leaves or flowers. Why would you want to take someone in the backyard and show them all your failures, and tiny sticks in pots that hardly look like bonsai yet?

If bonsai is just a pastime, wouldn't it make sense to not buy the expensive magazines that have all the great trees in them that you will never have? Heck no! These pages are filled with finely crafted bonsai and are inspirational, they move one to making their trees more beautiful. Bonsai folks can hardly wait for the next issue to come out, to see what new technique is in there that they may be able to pass along to their trees.

Why would one that is content to do this as only a hobby be concearned that their point of view be heard on a forum such as this? Why, because bonsai people are passionate about what they do. They do bonsai because it allows one to channel ones hope and desire into the sculpture known as bonsai. Within the trees are the eyes to the artists soul. They have dominion over the tree, and therefore become the master so to speak, for the life of the tree, directing its growth for many years.

Everyone may choose the path and decide how involved they want to be in the art of bonsai, but to say that you just do it for the fun of it is telling yourself that you do not have the desire to move foreward in the pastime.
If you are moving foreward, then you are in it for more than the fun of it.

I suspect there are alot more here that would like to display their trees in public then would admit to it. Why would you not display your trees in public? How will you ever get better if you don't subject yourself to the criticism it takes to be better.

Competition in bonsai is healthy. It promotes artistry and self examination of ones own faults. This is helpful in the big picture for the future of the artist. If you never compete, how will you know you have done the right thing. If you never take the criticism and try to make that information useful, then you have closed your mind to future growth. No one is the perfect bonsai artist, and criticism good and bad is healthy to promote good working ideals for the future development of the trees in one care.

True artists don't settle for craft. They know that the next masterpiece is just around the corner. That dream cannot be fullfilled by just settleing for second best. Who came in second in the last Boston Marathon. Who was the second man to walk on the moon. Who came in second at the last Indianapolis 500. No one ever remembers second. One has to strive to be the best.

While that list above is long and not for everyone, I hope to achieve all those things and more. That is "my" goal. I have set it high. I have made it almost unreachable in my lifetime. But then reaching goals are not that easy, thats why they call em goals.

Yea, we do bonsai for the fun of it. I just want to make the best fun possible and show it to everyone.

Kind regards, Bonsai-al, aka Al Keppler

__________________
Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

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