Finalist Results

TreeBay

The official voting has ended for the bonsaiTALK 2004 Styling Contest. Here is a listing of the finalist standings in the styling contest. The contest will remain open for voting & comment. The top five finalists will advance to the next round of judging by Mr. Walter Pall:

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FIVE FINALISTS:

Rank__Name___ Avg. Score

1. David_Chauvin's Votes. 9.32
& see the Styling Thread

2. Carl_Bergstrom's Votes 9.28
& see the Styling Thread

3. grampz's Votes 8.18
& see the Styling Thread

4. maria_kapra's Votes 7.50
& see the Styling Thread

5. bonsaial1's Votes 7.46
& see the Styling Thread

Thanks to everyone who voted and entered. This Gallery will remain open for public comment, however please refrain from discussing these five entries until the final selections have been made. We aren't turning off the voting, but this is the official ranking as of end of the official public vote:


Category Statistics
Posts: 35
Users Posting: 1
Comments: 2,158
Users Commenting: 102
Views: 13,259
Disk Space: 1.9mb


Here is the complete ranking:

Category Top 35 Photos

Rank___Name_______Avg Score
1. David_Chauvin's Entr... 9.32
2. Carl_Bergstrom's Ent... 9.28
3. grampz's Entry 8.18
4. maria_kapra's Entry 7.50
5. bonsaial1's Entry 7.46
6. pootsie's Entry 7.29
7. Newt's Entry 7.07
8. Delboy's Entry 6.82
9. dbz12fan's Entry 6.70
10. mkonig's Entry 6.62
11. Will_Heath's Entry 6.48
12. DavidN's Entry 6.29
13. cfdmike's Entry 6.27
14. Jgs_bonsai's Entry 6.07
15. Hookeroak's Entry 5.89
16. dbdotdot's Entry 5.34
17. Mike_Westervelt's En... 5.18
18. carmi's Entry 5.09
19. washout03's Entry 4.83
20. ksbonsai's Entry 4.80
21. Jur's Entry 4.67
22. DEM86's Entry 4.64
23. kazuki's Entry 4.49
24. CD_one's Entry 4.34
25. pdbbonsai's Entry 4.17
26. IsomJ1's Entry 4.06
27. jportock's Entry 4.02
28. Geodude's Entry 3.96
29. Chris_M's Entry 3.89
30. OldVamp's Entry 2.98
31. Camay123's Entry 2.76
32. Master_S.T.'s Entry 2.62
33. steez's Entry 2.59
34. gcraft's Entry 2.58
35. storymtb's Entry 2.56

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

Advertisement

Walter_Pall

Hi everyone,

after three weeks in America and a weekend in the north of Germany I am fially back and feel fresh enough to do tree critique here.

I judge the five top entries as if they were posted in the Ask the Master section.

Walter

Walter_Pall

This is a good result of a virgin styling. The artist has made a clear decision and made it a cascade that definitely wants to cascade. That means that the direction is clearly to the downward right becasue the top is subtle and just supportive over the trunk. I like the delicate treatment of the branches.

The overall appearance is slightly artificial, too much evenness throughout the little braches which individually are done nicely and naturally. By that I mean than all needle clusters are of almost equal size, the empty spaces in between are a bit too equal for my taste. I like the fact that there are not these often seen artificial big even gaps beween the main branches. But then the smaller, irregular gaps have slightly too equal optical weight for my taste.
The triangular form is all right in this case because it is a conifer and it is not too geometrically. But the silhouette is a bit too even and thus this artificial feeling.

Altogether this takes a couple of years and in the right pot it will be a beauty.

I give 6 points of ten.

Attached Images

1David_Chauvin.jpg (67.5 KB, 49 views)

Walter_Pall

Entry number 2:

The overall appearance is striking for a new styling. One has to be fair and see that one factor is the brilliant photography with the black background that brings out the colors and shapes so nicely. But then one also judges this somehow, I guess.

The movement of the trunk is dynamic, just slightly too even in the kind of the lower and upper bent. The very last little bent in the top has added enomously although the drastic change in taper is a fault. But it does not stick out really. While the branches are very horizontal and the clearly defined negative spaces are very much to the cookbook this tree has somewhat of a natural feeling to me. It is definitely a neoclassical design, which is in general too much of a sterotype according to my personal taste. But this example I like for a change.

I think one could see the main tree without the sibling. It would still be a nice and powerful tree. But then it would be just too sterotypical. The sibling - or call it steptwin - makes it unique. I like the fact that the little one does not even try to resemble a little tree, it is just there. Artistically it finishes the silhouette on the left side. The silhouette is a nicely rounded triangle. OK for a conifer. The line of the silhouette is not exact geometrically, which is good. It could be even a bit more irregular to make it a bit more interesting and natural.

On cannot see a nebari, but then the same applies to most of the other entries.

overall rating: 7 points of ten.

Attached Images

1Carl_Bergstrom-med.jpg (28.8 KB, 57 views)

Walter_Pall

entry number 3:

This is a brave entry because it shows a non-conifer. It is very hard to compete against conifers if not with a conifer in such a contest. (Ever thought why the big names invariably have a conifer as demo tree?)

The picture has a slight (unfair??) advantage over the others because the tree is already in a pot which could even be the final one. Thus it compares very favorably versus the others in plastic containers.

The overall appearance is very unconventional. It is clearly artistic and goes away from the beaten path. I like the fact that we see deadwood on a tree which might have it in nature but is 'not supposed' to have it as bonsai.

I like the fact that the crown is one-sided and not 'balanced' It apears just slightly to square on the upper left to me. I think cutting off a bit more than one inch on the upper left corner wuld have helped a lot. The branches are slightly chaotic. Apparently this is in the naturalistic style. At one or two points I would have liked just a little less chaos.

The dead part is done nicely. The top jins look a bit too much like an antler and could be better by making the height clearly different among the small jins. The nebari is there, but not too god. But so are all the others.

overall rating 5.5 out of 10

Attached Images

1grampz.jpg (73.2 KB, 56 views)

Walter_Pall

entry number 4:

This is a very interesting entry. The overall dedsign is not at all sterotype. The fact that the dead tree behind crosses the main trunk seems to be a fault, but is not at all here in my eyes. It comes back on top and enhances the movement of the main trunk very much. Without the second dead trunk this would not be a good design. I like the boldness of the movement and the subtleness of the jins.

The cronw to me creates an artistic problem somewhat. It is formed with a dynamic silhouette which looks like designer made for geting through the wind. I would have liked it a bit less horizontal, bending slightly down. And then it is a big green ball without structure. I would have liked to see some major branches and not so much of a hedge-trimmed ball here. But it should be easy to change this in the future.

Very good from the basic artistry but unfortunately not so good in the craft part.

overall points: 5

Attached Images

1maria_kapra-med.jpg (25.0 KB, 49 views)

Walter_Pall

entry number 5:

Very nice elegant juniper. I like the dancing effect. This is a female to me.

Somehow the trunk seems too slim and the crown too heavy to me. I think that the optical weight of the crown is a bit too much for the trunk. Since one cannot really change the trunk one should change the crown and make it more compact. Possibly getting rid totally of the long branch to the right?

It looks like the trunk could have been more refined on the surface. The edge between the live part and the shari looks untidy on the picture. The bark could have been made smooth and of a nicer color on this female tree.

But I am sure that this will be very nice in the future still.

Nice elegant entry which shows a lot of artistic feeling. Not stereotype. Unfortunately missing somewhayt on the graft refinement side compared to other entries.

Overall points: 5.5 of 10

Attached Images

1bonsaial1.jpg (39.6 KB, 43 views)

Will_Heath

We have a tie for 3rd place!

Grampz and Bonsaial1 are effectively tied for third place...stay tuned for more details....