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Hello, Andy -- after more than a year, I don't know if this thread is still active. I am a 2-year beginner and member of 2 clubs, who has been hacking on dozens of trees and seedlings to get comfortable with the process of modifying Nature's slow pathways to mature appearances. At over 70, I feel I lack the time -- and wouldn't consider it a personal success - to take 5 years learning to replicate Japanese methods and aesthetics.

But I still want the results of my developing inventiveness and craftsmanship to be able to move people who are able to respond and evaluate beyond "left-right-left branching" and "a forward-leaning apex centered above the roots" -- though I have no need to baby-bathwater these prinicples.

As I look at Bonsai exhibit books from 20-30 years ago, I am struck with how ponderous, how studied, the trees appear, and how unappealing many of them are to me. (I was a professional photographer for years, and have looked with pleasure at lots of paintings, and thus credit myself with having some sort of aesthetic eye) They certainly exemplify the qualities of "trunkiness" and "foliage masses", and "dynamic balance", but I find them unsatisfying and somehow wearying -- rather like ballet dancers' applause-garnering leaps and pirouettes.

No solutions -- not even intelligent questions. Thanks for your interest,

Rich

30-Nov-2004	#23
rich persoff bonsaiTALK Neophyte Join Date: Oct-2004 Posts: 1	Copying the Japanese -- Can there be an American Bonsai esthetic? Hello, Andy -- after more than a year, I don't know if this thread is still active. I am a 2-year beginner and member of 2 clubs, who has been hacking on dozens of trees and seedlings to get comfortable with the process of modifying Nature's slow pathways to mature appearances. At over 70, I feel I lack the time -- and wouldn't consider it a personal success - to take 5 years learning to replicate Japanese methods and aesthetics. But I still want the results of my developing inventiveness and craftsmanship to be able to move people who are able to respond and evaluate beyond "left-right-left branching" and "a forward-leaning apex centered above the roots" -- though I have no need to baby-bathwater these prinicples. As I look at Bonsai exhibit books from 20-30 years ago, I am struck with how ponderous, how studied, the trees appear, and how unappealing many of them are to me. (I was a professional photographer for years, and have looked with pleasure at lots of paintings, and thus credit myself with having some sort of aesthetic eye) They certainly exemplify the qualities of "trunkiness" and "foliage masses", and "dynamic balance", but I find them unsatisfying and somehow wearying -- rather like ballet dancers' applause-garnering leaps and pirouettes. No solutions -- not even intelligent questions. Thanks for your interest, Rich