Thank you so much for sharing your experience at the garden with us all. I have enjoyed it. -D

Some nice carving, but I feel a lot of it still needs refinement as it is still a little blocky. Did Dan indicate there was still more work to be done on these?

Another thing (I know I'm picky) but it looks like some of the carving has been done against the grain of the wood, so that when the wood dries and crack (and it will) the cracks run straight across the nice carved swirls. Kind of spoild the effect for me.

Anyway after all this negativity (remember Ian 'the glass is half full, the glass is half full) I really do like the carving and trees.

And I really think photo 34116 needs an 'R' rating, don't know what is going on there, reminds me of some of Harry Tomlinsons Ficus.

Cheers
Ian

Hope these thoughts are helpful Ian.

Yours most kindly,

Saw Dan in action about 10 years ago, very much enjoyed the demo!


Lucky you to beable to get to his gardens.

I've taken numerous workshops with Dan over the years. In fact he was the very first real "bonsai artist" I ever saw and took classes from. Who am I?- really no-one just some little guy (literally) from Texas whom Dan probably wouldn't even remember. Never taught more than beginners and you've never seen my name in the magazines.

Dan is a wonderful person and one of the pioneers in American bonsai. His passion and skill in the collecting of natural material is unsurpassed. He was probably the major influence on the use of powertools in the US and Europe- he brought the spark.

Additionally he advocates several Robinsonisms that caused me to look at trees in nature with new eyes.

I do however think the carving, as pointed out, is unnatural in appearance, primitive and in the longest time perspective, ill conceived. I don't fully appreciate his styling as well.

It is rough and unrefined showing the clear hand of man's imperfect intervention. Dan does not think further refinement is necessary, that deadwood is rough- his odd angular surfaces and curved router-bit exit points somehow resemble the action of rot, wind and insects. While true in some respects, natural deadwood is different than what he produces. While he teaches this principle, oddly enough he circulated a piece of naturally sand-blasted buttonwood driftwood.

Even termites tend to follow the grain. One can not create swirling ribbons of deadwood where none formerly existed in a straight grained trunk. Maybe from twenty feet away with the light from behind one might fool a person, but really, what have you done? I had the opportunity to work with Kimura when he came to Dallas and managed to slip in a question about carving shape across the grain. He looked at me like I was a complete idiot; his (translated) reply was something to the effect of "Never! Why would you do that? It will crack, not last"

The deadwood of the trees I worked with Dan on in the early days "failed". Both artistically and structurally. The cracks created weak points. The elements weaken this wood further and the curls on my "ribbon candy" split off. The wood eventually becomes the flattish spike of deadwood it should have been to start with. I've had to re-work these trees into convincing images.

He is proponent of wildly twisting branches because that is the way they grow in the wild. These twisting branches are to have sparse lollipops of foliage because these trees are from harsh environments. I agree, in principle, with both these articles of the Robinson agenda.

So your ram-rod straight formal upright trunk has twisting branches with lollipops of foliage. When universally applied, as Dan will, this is neither bonsai nor is it approaching perhaps a Disney-esque or Seussian caricature of a tree that will be successful either. While one might contend that this perhaps is simply his interpretaion and justification of the Horai/octopus style, this has never quite worked for me other than as an oddity of bonsai.

I hope the paradoxical influence of the Robinson on my own work has come through. In my naivete I once thought he was the bee's knees. As I've progressed I've had to reconcile a lot of what I learned. The man is a pioneer- he lit the carving bonfire. He made it okay for something other than conifers to have deadwood. Driven, enthusuastic, a rebel; he has clarified his own personal vision. He'd surely kick my tail all the way up and back down the mountain. For these traits I admire him. But don't ask me about his carving, his trees... his ability to judge the age of trees...

I would suggest you really contemplate the work appearing below; look at the work of other carvers. Use this as an influence to grow upon. I'm sorry but the Emperor is naked...

jim

Yours Most Respectfully...

Victrinia,

A much nicer response than I expected! Yes, I agree, Dan is a Master in that he has forged his own way.

As for pictures, I've neglected many of my personal trees over the last few years due to school (working on a PhD) and trying to expand my nursery from the occasional show/mailorder to a real one which involved packing up and moving to 8 acres outside Houston.

So, all that being said, I probably have some older pics, certainly of the before, but the "after shots" will leave much to be desired. I am making time a few nights each week to drag my orphaned trees in and rehabbing them- and trying to document the work!

I have a few trees in the gallery from about 3 or 4 years ago- non that were carve on in Dan sessions. The accent kid is now pushing 8...

jim

Jim,

Make no mistake there was no grudging respect given, it was as sincere as I stated. And I certinally could find nothing within your comments to take offense too. If anything as I pondered what you had to say, especially in respect to the styling of his trees (outside of the carving), it really helped me to process what had confused me in certain trees I had seen. I would be foolish indeed to fail to appreciate what your unique perspective was able to lend me. I can't tell you how much I appreciated having those particular trees suddenedly make some sense to me... lol

In fact... As the lengthy response you gave, and my own response was discussed in chat, my only concern was that you would not see my "fashion sense" comment as the amused and lighthearted remark that it was. I am glad my concern was misplaced.

As to your trees... Far be it from me to rush a tree in rehab... I certinallly will look in your gallery, and keep an eye on it from time to time to see if you get a chance to update it as your trees progress...

Kindest Regards,

Victrinia

Interesting that this thread should pop up again as I just got back from an intensive carving weekend with Graham Potter from the UK (he's done some excellent carving seen in Bonsai Europe). The main focus was to study trees in nature to see how the deadwood is formed and try to emulate these forms in the trees.

Anyway it was a great weekend and reinforced my initial feelings about carving across the grain.

I'll try to dig out some pics in a few days.

Cheers
Ian

Fantastic Ian!!! I would love to see some pics and hear from you about what you learned.

I find the whole process fascinating... and frankly would enjoy to see carving from another artists perspective...

Yours most kindly...

Victrinia