Mindcrime

I'd have to agree with those that think the lowest branch should be kept. It really makes the tree looks tall, without it the tree would look like a seedling in a pot. The branch gives a sense of scale, age and it also makes it easy to imagine the tree within a context.

Esthetically speaking it activates the negative space both below and above it.

I really like the picture provided by mike_p, but IMO literati is so much more than what can be seen in paintings/drawings like that. Without being too philosophical, I think the best literati speaks of ideals, moral, and what it means to be human. By reducing it to something that you've seen in a picture you strip it of everything that makes it literati, and turn it into pure craft (I'm not saying that mike_p was doing that, just stating my own opinion).

Regards
Emil

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