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26-Nov-2003
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#1 |
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Bonsai Doer
 
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So... You Want To Be A Player Ehhh...
Player: (play-er) Someone who turns out bonsai masterpieces with every touch of the shears. Bonsai wanna-be's flock to see his work. Material is given to him for no apparent reason. Midas touch. Lucky.
Who wouldn't want to be this person. I know person's like this. I am sure each in your own way knows one or two also. To be a player is simple. There are no formula's. There are no secrets. There is no rule book. All you need are three simple things: Talent - Means - Access Let's break these down a little further. Talent While the book that Andy has written is informative and goes a long way towards explaining many principles of bonsai design, memorizing them verbatum will not make you more talented. Like I have said before going to art school for 4 years will not make you an artist. Without talent the knowhow is useless. With talent you may be able to get away with doing very acceptable bonsai without an inkling of book lernin. I am not so sure which is more important. The background in the arts, or just being a talented mechanic. Means Probably more important then talent. Without the means bonsai would not be very exciting to do. The means ( wallet) opens doors to the type of material that makes artistic bonsai possible. Take a look at the books and the conventions and demo's. People who have a reputation on the line do not make it a habit to work with material that will not produce excellent results. The risk is far too great, and the pride of the artist is overwhelming. Their are times when the material is not that great, but these are far and few between. Having the means will also help out when that perfect piece of material shows its ugly head and you have the wallet to buy it at that moment. (How many have run across a perfect plant at just the moment you bought school clothes for the kids?) Not having to worry about next months mortgage payment really goes along ways towards moving oneself into the player catagory. Access Once a reputation has begun, access seems to open up all on its own. Having the talent and the money does no good without the access to the right material. I have heard time and again that bonsai is not about money, envy and all those other things. This could not be further from the truth. Money makes bonsai so easy. Having access to a hidden spot with wonderful Yamadori material that can be dug whenever one pleases must be fantastic. Not having access to that same material is not a problem if you have the talent and the means to just buy it from someother chap with the access. A few other things that will help in the Player endeavor. Being retired with TMA (Talent, Means, Access) doen't hurt either. Being self employeed with a prosperous business gives one the time and money to fullfill two of the criteria of this scheme. Untill one reaches these three goals, be content to make average bonsai from nursery stock and continue to argue here about how right you are! Thanks for listening, Al Keppler
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A tree a day...thats all we ask. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 26-Nov-2003 at 05:05 PM. |
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So... You Want To Be A Player Ehhh... |
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26-Nov-2003
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#2 |
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bonsaiTALK Expert
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Al well said.Time and money what a great combo
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26-Nov-2003
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#3 |
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bonsaiTALK Master
 
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Al very interesting ideas, almost like this thread, you had the talent to think of this thread (your brain), the means (money for the computer) and the access required to post here (Matt).
Jonny. |
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26-Nov-2003
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#4 |
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I stand and stare a lot
 
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Interesting Thoughts!...but there is another way.
You ave ommitted the patience factor. For someone who has the patience and starts young enough, a tree started from a cutting or even a seed may well produce material for excellent results. Just think of a 50 pine seedling planted by a 20 year old in 40 years time! He or she will then have two of the required items i.e. time (now retired) and material. Hopefully the 40 years spent on learning and practicing in the meantime will provide the talent. Is it not all about Zen? Mike 
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I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person |
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26-Nov-2003
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#5 | |
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Perpetual Novice
 
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Quote:
Ahh. But would that 20 year old have known how to steer that tree towards greatness?  |
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26-Nov-2003
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#6 |
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Bonsai nare-do-well
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This kind of reminds me of something E. Howard Hunt once said. "Most people are too busy working, to make money". It is important to take note of the comma after the word working.
It is an important comma. Changes the whole meaning of the sentence. So how does this apply to bonsai. Try this "Most people are too busy collecting trees, to have good bonsai". Again look where the comma is. Again the location is important. Far too many of us have too many trees. We are like Noah with the Ark. Two of everything. BUT if we just slow down a bit. Have fewer trees. Select the best of what we have and get rid of the rest the equation does change a bit. Maybe if we just stopped buying a tree just because it is a tree and started buying it because it had potential then bonsai could be afforded by more of us. After all not all trees have bonsai potential. Could be worth a thought or two. Or maybe not. |
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26-Nov-2003
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#7 |
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bonsaiTALK Master
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Mike:
I'm not with you at all. Forty years of growing bad stock won't make it wonderful. And you won't know if the stock is wonderful for 20 years. What happens then if it isn't? Good craftmanship won't make you an artist either - there needs to be an artistic talent. Al is 100% right in this.
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David Yedwab |
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27-Nov-2003
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#8 |
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bonsaiTALK Master Craftsman
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It looks like you've covered all the bases, Al.
Mike, you make a good point but I'd put having 40 years to grow out stock in the means category. A 20 year old may have the means to do that, a 70 year old wouldn't. Then again the 70 year old may have a fat wallet to open right now. Both ways can get you to the same place but they are different routes and different time frames. Tony |
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27-Nov-2003
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#9 |
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I stand and stare a lot
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Hi all
I was of course speaking hypothetically to raise the point, although I have quite a few trees growing in grow beds that have been planted about 10 years ago and i am planning to have them there for at least another 10 years. Give me another 20 years and I may be able to prove my point. dyedwab I agree that a degree of artistic talent is imperative, but that is nothing without the knowlede of how to keep a tree growing strongly and healthily. Chance says that one out of 50 would be reasonable stock Tony Good Point! Time = Money. Right? Bart Maybe not initially but 40 years is a long time to learn and 50 trees would allow for some considerable margin of error. All the best Mike
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I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person |
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27-Nov-2003
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#10 |
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Boonified
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Equation For Bonsai Playerhood II
Equation for 'bonsai playerhood':
Horticultural knowledge + Bonsai technique + Artistic principals All of us usually have at least one of these as a strength, many of us have two, and the 'bonsai players' out there have all three. Everybody has access to good material if you devote yourself to material with potential and apply the components of the above equation. For example take a look at Bonsai Today numbers 12 and 20. These journals (available any given week on ebay for less than $20) describe a way to go from Japanese Black Pine seed ($1 will get you a couple dozen or more seeds to play with) to a show tree in as soon as 10 years. I've seen examples and it really works! Check out these old issues. I also know more than a handful of very successful 'bonsai players' and they most often get dogs to work with in demos (and they put their reputation on the line every time) but through artistic talent and good technique they are able to awe the audience and really turn a dog into a respectable piece of art. Most 'bonsai players' are not really well off financially. They either eek out a living working bonsai fulltime or have a full time profession and spend their evenings and weekends working on bonsai. They invest time and effort (as well as use an artistic eye) to select material which later turns into show quality trees. The 'bonsai players' I've spent time with do not have fine trees given to them, and do not have a monopoly on bonsai sources. They spend weekends and vacations searching for places to find good material, be it a place to dig or a nursery with good, old material. And at times they save their money and use it for an investment in their work and buy a specimen, or trade work for material. Money is a subject that can come up in any conversation under the sun and the only reason to mention it is out of envy.There is only one person in the world that doesn't envy another's wealth. It is a given that the wealthy can buy some pretty darn nice trees but they have to have an eye to select really good material for the investment, and they also have to have the horticultural knowledge, possess the proper technical skill and yes still posess artistic principals to maintain their investment, or better yet improve on it in time. As an example of what can be done with a moderate expenditure I would venture to say is within anyone's grasp on this forum I would like to show you a picture of a hinoki cypress I bought as ten gallon nursery stock three years ago for $70. The pot cost me an additional $25 and I borrowed the stand from my wife for the picture. I have no formal art background and don't claim to be an artist, this tree and pot cost me a total of $95, and when last I checked anybody was allowed access to this nursery. The following link is how it appeared in this year's World Bonsai Contest top 100 trees: www.worldbonsaicontest.com/03010.html Don't let lack of means curb your desire to achieve better bonsai. Most bonsai professionals will be able to honestly tell you means and access are not obstacles if the desire to achieve is greater. It all comes down to technique, horticultural knowledge and artistic principal. Talent is a welcome bonus that speeds up the process. Happy Thanksgiving, Howard, aka on previous threads as simply 'Smith' (not the one from The Matrix) |
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