Walter Pall at the Carolina Bonsai Expo

Jesse McMahon wrote:thanks, arthur, for a great read and pictures. already looking forward to the expo next year..

Jesse, thanks for being there. I don't have to start thinking about next year's Expo for another couple of weeks!

chench53 wrote:Thanks for the wonderful pictures, and the story. The Expo was wonderful! It is so exciting to watch all the different clubs pull their displays together, and how wonderful the trees all were. Our group had a terrific time.

Gerry
Virginia Bonsa Society

I appreciate it, Gerry. It's great having VBS on board!

Thanks Aj. I read it all. No comments on styles/approaches but on Marmite. I was served it once by a friend, and I wonder that he is still my friend

Regards
Morten

The result as of Monday. Then a quick and dirty virtual to show what the crown might look like in a couple of years and then with pot (John Pitt). This is suppsoed to look like a tree, not like a bonsai.

This is supposed to look like a tree, not like a bonsai.

Ahhh . . . if only more people would . . . .

I was studying this tree out in the patio during the auction. It has come a long way. Lovely!

(It's about 50 times bigger than anything I'd tackle these days -- or probably, any days.)

Now that pine looks great to me, That would probably catch my eye more than a more styled, abstract, tree.

To Me, Trees look more like Bonsai when they look more like trees. I hope that makes sense. But thats just my aesthetics.
-Jay

That's an interesting pine.

What's the most southernly area that Scots Pine can live in the SE USA?

Rob Kempinski wrote:That's an interesting pine.

What's the most southernly area that Scots Pine can live in the SE USA?

Rob,

The USDA shows it above the mason-dixon line. It has naturalized in the northern great lake states and appears as far south as Southern IL, OH, IN KY etc..... Not a good pine for the warm winter areas. Commonly grown as a commerical Christmas tree on large farms

drgonzo wrote: and I always think that criticisms of Mr. Pall seem from people not understanding that art
-Jay

This has been said before and I take exception to this "emperor's new clothes" statement. David has a point but it could have been said with a little less venom. I do not doubt Walters passion, enthusiasm and ability to hold a crowd but I fail to see a great deal of change in the above Scots demo, other than a thin out and bending down or spreading of branches. I do not recognise this transformation as a Scots Pine either. It looks more like an old deciduous tree to me.
Discuss?........I hope.

will baddeley wrote: I fail to see a great deal of change in the above Scots demo, other than a thin out and bending down or spreading of branches.

I don't see how we can criticise him (or anyone else) for that, given that a recurring comment on the forum is how demos are contrived and damaging to tree health because they do too much at one sitting. Perhaps we have gone too far in the direction of "entertainment" in demos and less down the road of how to take a tree and start it on a long journey towards what the artist sees as its end result.

One part of my lecture was that naturalistic bonsai can be made of material that otherwise does not seem very fit for 'bonsai'. This particular tree material was not good for a regular bonsai at all. Regardless of what many think from looking at the before images, a standard bonsai could only have been mad by stripping almost all branches and start the crown anew. It would have looked atrocious after the demonstration and would have taken five to ten years to look somewhat acceptable.
Anyway, it is perfectly honorable to not like the result. But this does not necessarily mean the whole idea is bad.

The pine tree is a Pallsai. This term was invented to insult me. I think it is a good term for trees that absolutely have no idea that they are a bonsai.

Azaleas are almost always styled to look like an ideal pine trees with flowers. I call that kitsch. Junipers are always styled to look like a pine tree. Broadleaved trees are designed very often to look like a juniper which desperately tries to look like a pine tree which was styled by a Kimuraist.
If all this is the case, why can a Scots pin not look like a Scots pine which grows on a healthy spot in a meadow and looks a bit like a broadleaved tree. They sometimes look like this actually.

One line in my lectures is like this:
John Naka said something along the lines 'don't try to make your tree look like a bonsai, try to make your bonsai look like a tree'. OK, so when one wants to achieve this one must know what a bonsai looks like. And avoid every single aspect of the bonsai look. And the result is a little tree in a pot that looks like a real tree if you have some artistic skill.
You may it well call Pallsai. I will be honored.

Walter: Quote Azaleas are almost always styled to look like an ideal pine trees with flowers. Unquote.

Does this azalea bonsai of mine looks like pine ?
There is a saying " Those who speak do not know and those who know do not speak. "
Cheers, CJ.

Just a comment with a general aim in mind, that I want to put in to this discussion. It is the fact that we all too often uses material that really isn´t suitable for bonsai. If the tree doesn’t have the qualities of being good for a future bonsai, why do we then (all too often) use it as if it is? We see thick trunks, but with poor root base not ever possible to correct. Fantastic deadwood, but branches or trunks newer supposed to be a bonsai! I believe that we should look much more after overall quality in the material we use, and be more critical about what we use for what. Not possible for an artist who are given a piece to work on, but those who delivers the material needs to be more critical, instead of expecting wonders with material that doesn’t have the talent. Sometimes we look too hard for spectacular trees instead of seeing the beauty in simple but good material too.

Regards, Morten