critique of number 4

Walter_Pall

What was said in the critique of number 3 about refinement in gneral appleis here too.

This is a nice and elegant tree. It is done with one of the most difficult species in bonsai. I like the layout of the branches and can see a great future in the long run.

Unfortunaltely what we are judging here is the short run, the here and now, not the potential!. It is not a very good idea to pick a species for such a contest which is one of the most difficult in the bonsai world. It is IMPOSSIBLE to style a really good spruce without wiring to the finest detail. I would say the same about junipers, but with spruce it takes MUCH longer until the tree looks really good. I have spruce that I work on since 20 years and they are not in exhibit stage yet.

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final2.jpg (71.9 KB, 158 views)

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Walter_Pall

Now this virtual is slightly unfair because it would not have been possible to come close to this on the first styling. But if I had entered this spruce I would have spent a whole additional day and wired EVERY SINGLE BRANCH AND BRANCHLET and put them into a position similar to the virtual.
The tree might well have won the competition.

I would also have been more careful in applying wire nicely everywhere. The wire around the trunk is not tight enough!

Now what is good naturalistic style, the original entry with little wire or this virtual with wire EVERYWHERE? I think the latter. Naturalistic style is NOT about the method, it is about the result.

It is a great mistake to think that a spruce or a juniper or even a pine tree just need initial wiring of the main branches and from then on growing and pinching will create a good, natural looking bonsai. The result of this notion are all these amateurish half-finished bonsai or 'bonsai' which even neeed a first main styling. Professional styling of these species means to wire EVERYTHING. To create a masterpiece means WIRING EVERYTHING SEVERAL TIMES OVER MANY YEARS.

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number41.jpg (62.7 KB, 133 views)

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TreeBay

Thank you for taking the time to do these critiques Walter, I have found them very insightful and enjoyed the opportunity to get an expert's perspective on the top entrants' work.

Regards,

Matt

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pootsie

It is an honor to have you involved in this contest, Walter. I've been eagerly awaiting this critique.

In fact, though, there was wire on almost every branch of this tree -- just not done very well I guess! I hope to learn more about this.

In the meantime, here is the tree after some changes made per the comments during contest voting. I removed excess foliage and re-shaped some of the wiring.

A lot was done to this tree, so I hope it makes it through this stage to live up to your vision.

pootsie

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2005 contest tree 122005b.jpg (64.2 KB, 81 views)

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John Dixon

Pootsie,

Once again, congrats on a great entry. Walter's virtual is to be envied. If you can get it to look like that, you better be entering in in future contests for specimen bonsai. I remarked in my comments during the voting phase that I really liked your decision to bring down those branches on the right to fill in. They accomplished more than just filling in, the downward angle just exudes ideas of snow-laden branches straining under the weight and suffering the affects of gravity as a result. That is emulation of nature, and you did it well with bonsai techniques. Great job, my friend!!!

Now as for that wire Well, I did notice that loose wire on the trunk and I could only think about Dan Robinson insisting that you only put wire where it does something. Now Walter has clarified this, so you have been told by the best. Don't let it happen again counselor.


Walter,

I was interested by your remarks about wiring. Indeed, initial wiring is not the end of the process, but I was curious if in future wirings you usually find yourself re-wiring the whole bonsai. I ask this because I find myself more often than not just re-working specific branches and rarely the whole bonsai, sans cat (pun Pootsie) astropic damage that has to be re-styled. Especially with procumbens, I find much improvement with copious amounts of pinching and occasional wiring. I just recently gave a larger (36"+) juniper a hard look. I intially styled it about ten years ago in a slanting style and gravity has caused it to bend over more than I wanted. My tool of choice to change this is a prop made out of a piece of firewood (hi-tech huh?) that I put under a lower branch and increased the height by about 3-4 inches and moved the apex right by about 5-6 inches. Now the tree is where I want it, base/trunk/apex-wise. Of course, now some branches aren't where I want them. I see three branches that will need to be re-wired, but the rest of the bonsai can be worked with some selective cuts and subsequent pinching.

Given your extensive experience, I am very interested in knowing if you have a discipline about whether a complete wiring of established bonsai is necessary every few years, or do you only wire what you see needs to be improved. I ask this sincerely, as I want to know if I am missing an important lesson here. My normal method is to wire what has to be changed with that method and use other methods, like angled cuts, to ramify existing branches that are otherwise okay. Is this a sound policy, or do I need to consider another way?

John

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Walter_Pall

John,

all three trees shown are in training since more than fifteen years. The third one is in training since about 30 years. They are NOT in exhibit stage yet. They are still in development. Every single little branch is wired for the third or fourth time. They look somewhat contrived still. After about two years the wire will go off and by then they will have this natural look like they had always been that way. Then after another two to four years I will have to wire them again. EVERYTHING or almost. This is true with spruce but also to a bit lesser extent with all junipers. This is one of the differences between good and outstanding bonsai.

Pootsie,

we may have different ideas of what 'branch' and 'everything' means. Branch for me is whatever grows longer than 5 mm, that's about 2 % of an inch, yes that small! Everything means everything, 100 %. You may know that I am Austrian and you may have heard that Austrians mean 50 when they say 100. In this case I mean 100 %, even if the branchlet already seems to be in the very right position. You will see what difference that makes.

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John Dixon

Walter,

Thanks for the explanation. I have limited experience with spruce, but I can understand the difficulties.

I differ with you about #31618 NOT being exhibition ready. That tree is awesome. I see where the lowest right branch on #31619 still seems a little "flat" and needs some further work. #31620 looks awful good as well.

This is a great learning experience for me. To show us such bonsai as these that are in training for YOU, instills in me the desire to improve my own efforts.

Warmest regards,

John

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Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.