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Old Mister Crow
Join Date: May-2002
Location: Seattle, WA.
Country: USA
Posts: 3,197
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I remember this photograph of Walter's well from a previous post. It is one of the nicest pictures of a natural tree that I've seen. The spirit or the feeling that one gets from this tree is a marvelous thing to aim for in doing bonsai.
Does this tree itself work as bonsai? Not for me. It looks pretty poor in Al's virtual, and not all that much better in Walter's.
Why?
Let me try out one idea. I think much of it comes down to the way that the eye percieves the tree itself in the two different settings, nature and pot. In its natural setting, one sees the tree not as an object per se but as part of a greater whole that includes the surrounding landscape. In a pot, the combination of pot and tree is itself seen as a discrete object.
Why does this matter? Let me take just one aspect of design, balance. In the natural setting, this tree is balanced beautifully, because the whole environment contributes and to eye is part of the tree and visa versa. (Some considerable degree of credit goes to the photographer for composing the scene in this way, of course!)
So when I look at this tree in the natural setting, my eye moves like this:
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In love with trees
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