For Andy Rutledge Only

bonsaial1

I had the privlage of working with Hideko Metaxas all weekend during the convention. I was in charge of the needs of the trees and would water and mist moss on a daily basis. During the quiet morning times Hideko would change out the display in the tokonoma. This was done each day. I was asked to assist her in the changing out of the trees and suiseki. These things were a little to heavy for her to handle and it was exciting for me to assist her and pick her brain for the reasons she changed things. She was all too happy to answer my many questions and I wish I could spend some months with her as she is very knowledgeable in the world of bonsai display within the Tokonoma.

I willpost the individual parts of the display with the black pine. Please leave this thread open till Andy has made his post. Feel free to load the pictures and play with them in photoshop and come up with your own display. After Andy has posted, feel free to add your achievments here also. I will post the display as Hideko designed it after a few days.

The Tokonoma

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tokoon.jpg (65.6 KB, 461 views)

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bonsaial1

Japanese Black Pine

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pinetree.jpg (36.5 KB, 441 views)

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The suiseki

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suiseki.jpg (5.5 KB, 432 views)

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bonsaial1

The scroll

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scroll1.jpg (21.0 KB, 431 views)

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bonsaial1

If anyone would like to post their virtual of how the Tokonoma should look, post it here. I will post Hideko's on Friday. Please give a brief explanation for the reasons that it is designed that way.
Thanks Al

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K.A. Rutledge

Hi Al,

Thanks for opening this thread up to everyone as a post-as-desired basis. I am much happier to post my effort here now that it is not a "watch Andy jump through my hoops" contest. I enjoy challenges. I don't enjoy smackdown traps for other people's amusement. I'll thank you to not indulge in that kind of thing again.

I'll be posting my arrangement shortly.

Kind regrads,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

K.A. Rutledge

Not what I'd do...

This is a rather difficult conundrum of arrangement - for several reasons. Not the least of which is that the tokonoma space is basically half size. Cramped tokonoma look crummy.

This image below puts the tree on the wrong side. The composition of the tree itself is odd and it might work this way anyway, but the planting position in the pot makes this side of the tokonoma a mistake.

Furthermore, the composition of the character (Do or [/i]michi[/i]) on the scroll also makes this side inappropriate for the tree.

Also, putting the suiseki on the floor or a short slab creates an inappropriate geographic relationship with the pine tree. The mountain should be above the tree's stand.

Kind regards,
Andy

Attached Images

tokonom2a.jpg (27.1 KB, 289 views)

K.A. Rutledge

Also not what I'd do...

This arrangement is not right either. The tree is better over on the right, but the suiseki is too low. This position would be good for a companion plant, but not for a distant mountain suiseki. It needs to be positioned higher than the stand of the pine tree so that the natural geographic relationship between mountains and this sort of pine is logically represented.

Kind regrads,
Andy

Attached Images

tokonom.jpg (37.7 KB, 281 views)

K.A. Rutledge

This one is okay.

Here's what I came up with. Again, the space is far too crowded for a decent arrangement, but this is at least a proper positioning of the elements.

The problems with the elements are many:
- the back wall of the tokonoma should not have vertical bars - it should be bare so that proper positioning of the scroll (off-center) does not look so conspicuous.

- The pine tree has an odd configuration. It has no real apex (so that we can see the directional movement of the tree) and it is full on one side and sparse on the other. Ultimately, the planting position in the pot made my decision for me.

- the suiseki is now in a somewhat more logical position. The stand I used in this mockup image is poor - too powerful and ornate. It should be more sedate.

- The cramped nature of the tokonoma makes the suiseki position either too close to the tree/scroll or too close to the side wall. No getting around that, I guess.

Anyway, this is at least the arrangement of the componenets I'd use, but I'd add more breathing room to them with a proper tokonoma.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

Attached Images

tokonoma.jpg (32.3 KB, 278 views)