Jim Doyle and Walter Pall style at Gingko 2001

Walter_Pall

This is a Mugo Pine which was collected in 1993 in the Austrian Alps. It is about 150 years old, pot by Derek Aspinall.
This is the tree before the start of the demonstration at this year's Gingko Exhibit in Belgium.
best regards
Walter Pall

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

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Walter_Pall

and this is the result of the demonstration by Jim Doyle and Walter Pall after about 5 hours.

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

Walter_Pall

This is a virtual that shows a possible direction for the next 5 to 10 years.
best regards
Walter Pall
http://home.t-online.de/Walter Pall

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

Walter,

I am an absolute newbee in Bonsai so don't pay to much attention to this, but I think the big jin on top is too large. If I look at the tree my attention is drawn to the jin instead of the trunk and foliage. So in my (very) humble opinion it should be shortened a bit. I think the rest of the tree is fantastic. I hope to make something similar in 15 years or so :-)

rgds, René

Walter_Pall

Rene,
your opionon is accepted. you are in very good company. What you refer to is classical bonsai design. This is what 99 % of bonsai enthusiasts use as their reference.
This tree is in the contemporary style. This means that it only wants to please my personal taste and definitely not a classical Japanese taste. The form is informal upright, driftwood. This means that the dead wood is the most important part. It should be the center of interest. The crown is only to be sure the tree is alive and healthy. This goes away from the crown being the center of interest or the trunk.
I would not be surprised if you are surprised now. No, this is not in your books, thnis is very new.
It is like abstract paintings starting to come up at the beginning of last century. Up to today many folks still just cannot see the point in abstract art.
If you don't like it, I am not insulted at all. Just look at my more classical trees.

Attached Jim Doyle (right) and myself (left) at Gingko
best regards
Walter Pall

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

Jim,

Thanks for the reply and the explanation. I see your point now. I guess it's something like looking at a Picasso when you just started making sketches of a wooden chair.... Guess I'll learn to appreciate.

rgds, René

Soildoc

Walter,

How are you estimating the age of your trees.

Hi Soildoc,
the age of tree is not really of great importance, just interesting.
I take several trees which have grwon in a similar area and have died. Then I cut the trunk and count the yearrrings. If a tree has a diameter of lets say 10 cm and I count 200 yearrings, it is probably safe to say that one that grew under comparable circumstances and measures about 10 cm is at least 150 years old.
One can also cut a big branch and see how many yearrings to a cm. If there are 20 yearrings to a cm, then one can deduct that a trunk radius of 5 cm will probably have around 100 yearrings.
Best regards
Walter Pall

Soildoc

I figured you were doing something like this. I would like to know the age of several of my trees but they were bought as saplings. I was hoping you had a new method that didn't involve cutting anything. Thanks for your info.