bonsaimaniac

I'm ready to take some shots. Is there any value in "Flawed Bonsai"? This is sort of a follow up on the artistry thread and the idea of 2 camps of thought. I would like to add a little on the side.

In Bonsai Techniques II by John Naka he takes the time to show examples of naturally created trees and then shows them in a bonsai pot. The reason this is interesting and I may be wrong, but it shows trees that do not adhere to the traditional bonsai rules of proporions, branch location or even balance. Are these trees flawed? Well the answer would be yes but they are still very dramatic. They can be looked at for hours just trying to imagine the forces of nature that created such features. Is the artistry lost? Is trying to copy this in bonsai a wasted pursuit? I would like some of the more experienced bonsaist to give an opion because I really don't know.

People that work on different species of trees in a way seperate them self into different camps. What I mean by this is that someone that works primarily with JB pines and someone that works with ficus will have very differing points of veiw as to what bonsai rules are to be followed or broken. there is also the problem of people giving advice on trees they haven't worked with and fail to recognize the difficulties of working with or using a technique with that species. A 500 year old pine yamadori with a thin trunk is not the same as a garden grown tree with a thin trunk. (You don't stick it back in the ground to fatten up the trunk).

Bonsai Today online has a free article about starting with nursery stock. In the article it starts out by stating that it is next to impossible to find flawless bonsai starting material. It then talks about the goals of working with such material. The fact is that many don't have access to great material. Whether it's money or location not everyone will produce a show quality bonsai. Should they quit? I wonder if success can be found in these "flawed" bonsai? Is working on these trees just practice to get better so that one day in the future we will feel justified shelling out several grand for better stock?

i don't want to start a fight. I am really interested an "elitist" point of view. My trees at this stage all have years of growth needed before I would even paste a picture here and only one is starting the refining process this year. I have my opinion on these issues (not stated above playing a bit of devils advicate) but have wondered for some time.

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