Breaking the Rules

zen

Never untill you have first followed them all.

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"Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity, and that wherever it is so applied it lends an unmistakable quality to the work."

~ Alan Watts (1915-1973)

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RedPine

I thought those rules are for only working on conifers and when the artist wants a neo-classic design for them? Only like 2% of my collection is conifer..should I style my elms,figs and boxwoods etc. like a Japanese pine?,wouldn't that look silly.

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pootsie

Wes, I humbly disagree.

There is no rule that says every tree must look like a pine.
There is no rule that all trees must be Japanese informal uprights.

Instead, there are design principles that guide decision making, in conjunction with what the tree can do. Those apply to all trees in bonsai, penjing, and the other potted arts.

pootsie

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soltan

Pootsie does that mean you agree with all

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RedPine

Hi,

Yes your right there is no rule that says they all need to be a pine/informal shape.But if you follow the rules thats what you get,those rules where written to aid a beginer in the simplistic design of a formal/informal conifer design and for no other purpose.

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pootsie

Obviously, Wes, you and I are referring to different sets of rules.

pootsie

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p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

RedPine

Well which rules are you working with here?I thought this was about the 'rules of bonsai' written in the books and so forth.

Here is an article with the 'rules of bonsai' listed in it and I believe they are also found in the Naka book V1?Are these not the 'rules' we are gabbing about?

http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/rules.htm


Don't get me wrong,I'm not 'trashing' the rules or Japanese bonsai design,just saying they don't help much unless you want the neo-classic informal/formal conifer.

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soltan

Cool more links I might read them all one day Thanks Red

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rockm

"Yes your right there is no rule that says they all need to be a pine/informal shape.But if you follow the rules thats what you get,those rules where written to aid a beginer in the simplistic design of a formal/informal conifer design and for no other purpose."

Oh Bull, the "rules" are a set of principles meant to frame a natural image opf a tree that doesn't look dorky or awkward. The rules only try to incorporate into words the visual language that the eye understands. Species makes no difference. Only someone with such a very strict interpretation of them comes to that conclusion.

Follow them-- or not, or use them when they're needed. If you don't, you will probably wind up with informal upright trees, only uglier and messier than if you didn't.