Old Olive, new Sara pot

Dale Cochoy

Matt,
That's a great virtual,
but, as I so often see with virtuals on bonsai webs, you have lots of branches where there ain't branches on the dead wood. Are you proposing that Mike elongate existing branches ( greatly!) then lay them alongside the dead spires?

Regards,
Dale

__________________
________________________________
If you want to be Different....
You have to DO something Different!
__________________________________________

Some people NEVER take the time to do a job right the first time....
but, they always seem to make the time to do it over again...
____________________________________________
Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery
Hartville, Ohio

Advertisement

Treebeard

Mike P, thanks for showing your bonsai. Attila, thanks for a very informative couple of posts.

Regards,

Chris.

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
christopherguise.co.uk

bonsaial1

Attila, my essay had more to do with the conflict this tree has. That confliction is based on the image presented and my percieved ideals as bonsai. In hindsight once again, a picture of the towers in a frame next to the image of the tree would have went along way towards telling a different story. The posts after Mikes telling of his love of the Watts Towers is charming and adds much to the representation of the tree. You and a few others were privy to that in your posts. Your post would have carried much more weight had you said that before Mike spilled the beans. I don't know if that would have changed my feeling towards this tree. I feel Mike could have carved this out of a couple Redwood 4 x4's and saved the olive for some real artistic bonsai. Artistic in the sense of traditional, not Mimetic Art.

If that floats your boat, so be it. I'll stick to tradition thank you. In case anyone is interested there are a couple more Southern California landmarks just itchin to be immortilized as bonsai.

Bonsai-al

Attached Images

	derby2.jpg (18.4 KB, 36 views)
	SanGabriel75.jpg (62.3 KB, 34 views)

__________________
A tree a day...thats all we ask.

Frogboy

I think I have to agree with Al and Will on this one. I haven't been doing this long, but there does seem to be a dramatic conflict here.

Personally, I think Will makes the best point. Bonsai is not just about the medium. It is also about context. If you take the medium out of context, it is like painting a car polka-dots: Pretty cool, but why? The purpose of deadwood is to provide that context. It gives you a frame of reference. When you see a cloud that looks like a tiger, you don't say "Holy Crap, look at that tiger!" You say "Wow, that cloud looks like a tiger." I think that same point applies here. The essence of bonsai is to evoke an image, provide a context for the viewer. That is why tiny mame bonsai are as powerful as sixteen-handers. When the essence of "This is a tree" is lost, the rest of the image, no matter how fantastically acheived, falls apart. Many Chinese trees evoke images of Dragons or other monsters, but not at the sake of the image of the tree first. They are small trees that look like large trees that look like dragons.

Maybe I am just a classicist. I deplore minimalist music. Yves Klein makes me laugh. What you have done is definitely art. What you have done is definitely bonsai. But is what you've done artful bonsai? The answer, to me, is indefinite.

On a finer point that was briefly made earlier, I also don't think the deadwood works for an entirely different reason. As was mentioned, deadwood is usually found on tortured, twisted conifers. I understand that you sometimes use trees to evoke images of other trees, but it is exceedingly difficult to make a deciduous tree look coniferous. Deciduous trees are usually found in relatively wet conditions compared to the conifers that get that bleached white driftwood. That humidity keeps the deadwood from bleaching out completely, leaving it a dirty gray instead of bone-white. I think you could go a long way toward making the tree look a little more natural by simply staining the deadwood. It would cease to draw the eye to the conflict between the two separate aspects of your piece, as well as making the driftwood look a little bit more like, well, wood. Right now it looks like marble.

With all that said, let me add that this is an incredible piece. I only wish I had your skill at carving, and if even one of my trees had the obvious ramification and amazing proportion that this tree has, I would be thrilled.

My final advice? Compromise. Cut off the deadwood and replace with similarly shaped stones. This would be a wonderful depiction of a tree clambering up a giant rock toward the light. Kind of evocative of Mayan ruins.

Attached Images

olive rock.jpg (57.3 KB, 46 views)

mike_p

An olive in Spain.

Mike

Attached Images

Ullastre_batud.jpg (66.9 KB, 54 views)

__________________
Bonsai is not a hobby.
Bonsai is a way of life.
MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha

marija hajdic

One more from Croatia.
About 1500 years old.
Trunk circumference (near the ground) 10.4 m!
Protected as "monument of nature".

Attached Images

	oliva-1.jpg (73.2 KB, 57 views)
	oliva-2.jpg (72.1 KB, 50 views)

__________________
Regards, Marija
http://www.my-bonsai.com

mike_p

WOW! A wonderful tree! Please show us more.

Mike

__________________
Bonsai is not a hobby.
Bonsai is a way of life.
MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha

marija hajdic

Here is one more picture, me and my friends from "Dalmatian bonsai club".
The olive is growing near my house, in my town Kastela, on Adriatic coast.
It is even on a post stamp (second picture).

Attached Images

	oliva-3.jpg (72.2 KB, 52 views)
	stamp.jpg (21.0 KB, 40 views)

__________________
Regards, Marija
http://www.my-bonsai.com

mike_p

To all who have posted on this thread;
Thanks to Marija and her wonderful pictures, we now know that olive trees don't all look like those in an olive orchard.

Mike

__________________
Bonsai is not a hobby.
Bonsai is a way of life.
MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha