Not Traditional? So what!

rjj

I enjoyed doing it. If I need approval from the masses, it loses a little of the appeal and fun of the experience.

I have what is considered traditional stock and enjoy working with it. I've had very nice trees in the past. Guess as I get older the fine white lines so many people like to draw look a little gray to me.

This is a Crassuala ovata "Hummels Sunset." Last time I posted a photo of this plant on a bonsai forum, I was taken to task for using a traditional pine type style in training it. Might have been nice for those individuals instead to maybe have noticed it might have taken a little effort to get that pine style on a succulent of this size. Plant is about 30 inches tall.

You guys can go with both barrels cause I sleep good at night these days.

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Randy Jones Norman Ok USDA Zone 7

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mistermoyogi

Hi, Randy: A lovely tree...from my point of view, anyway. When I was first beginning work with succulents I drew a good bit of inspiration from your work with Crassula species...I have since sold a couple of mine to club members and I regret doing so.

Good work and I am glad to see you posting once again.

Best regards from another non-traditionalist.

Tom

Kitsune

I happen to really like this tree. Thank you so much for sharing it

It's great to see when people branch out (no pun intended!) and try things that may not be "traditional" according to this person or that person. Just as our trees are ever growing, ever changing living things, so to is our art. Again, very nice job.

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"Learn about pines from the pines, and about bamboo from the bamboo." -Basho


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Alvaro

I'm... I don't know. To be blunt, I don't like it. I appreciate the excellent work from the technical point of view. Certainly it must have been a difficult and fun project to turn a crassula into a "pine". The movement of the trunk is subtle but well defined, the branches are in the right places, the foliage pads work together nicely, and I like the choice of pot. But there is more to bonsai than all that. I guess the reason I don't like it has to do with an old philosophical discussion about insincerity in art, or artworks that lie. Of course in a sense all art is untrue, Michelangelo's David is not a naked guy, it is a piece of stone, but it is truthfull in some other sense. The philosophical debates have centered around the way to specifiy which senses are these; when can we say a work of art lies in a way that Michelangelo's David doesn't. No definitive answer from philosophers yet, but it seems to me this tree oversteps that line.

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A bonsasi is to a tree what Hamlet is to an actor. It is the performance that creates the essence.

irene_b

Woot! Woot!


Way to go Randy!

Kick them rules to the curb, after all Rules are made to be broken!
If it pleases you, that my friend is all that matters!
Irene

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rjj

Hi Alvaro,

Interesting point. I am glad you responded and shared this. Thanks. Yours is a well thought out response that deserves a better answer than I'm wanting to invest time and effort to honestly respond to. But it's safe to say I'm not into philosophical debates and don't really agree with you. I'm just a simple minded old country boy on cruise control. Again thanks for sharing.

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Randy Jones Norman Ok USDA Zone 7

rjj

Thanks Tom. It's been quite a while since I typed in your general direction.
How are thing going?


Thanks Kitsune! You've now been tempted to the dark side. The bonsai police will soon be at your door.

Hi Irene,

It pleases me.

It's funny. I can take this plant and show it to a cactus and succulent club and they are awe inspired like it's something Moses carried down from the mountain.

Take it to a bonsai club with the traditional crowd and they fight tooth and nail lining up to be critical. The old "You should know better, we shoot the wounded here." In all fairness though if I showed up with a mallsai they would be lined up giving advice and help. Somewhere along the line people forgot this was supposed to be fun and they take themselves too seriously. Guess that's why I don't have a lot of bonsai anymore and don't belong to a club.

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Randy Jones Norman Ok USDA Zone 7

irene_b

I do things and grow things to please me....
And if that offends the masses oh well....
Life is just to damm short to not be doing things we enjoy.
Irene

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BrianG

I guess I don't get why you posted your tree. You like and enjoy the work you do with your bonsai and don't want / care for traditionalists so don't go to bonsai meetings much anymore. Nothing wrong with that but why post your tree? Do you want critique that is only positive? Do you want to see if others are perturbed by traditionalists views as well?

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Cordially,
Brian

The universe is not only stranger than you imagined, it is stranger than you can imagine - R. Dawkins