Follow the line

Yesterday i had a very long discussion with an old friend of mine about univers, art, friendship, relation with the others, teh way we choose, the way we suffer, nature, humanity... a very philosophic moment. Then we tried to make an interaction between all the things we had lived until today. A kind of result. And the result is that in everything you do, with anyone you're talking with, what kind of work you could have, in evry corner, every changing time, there's a comon link. He made me realised that mine was the creativity, 'cause in eveythings i've done until today i've always needed to put creativity inside. Not necessarly to show something but instinctively, emotionaly like if it was my nature.

What i mean is that concerning what we call "art", there's not necessarly a goal or a seek. Sometimes things are done just because you need to make them. Viscerally. As far as i remmeber i've always try to find in the Kokufu or Kinbon that i was reading when i was younger, something diferent, the special tree, with a special branch, special pot or special moove in the trunk.... Alaways wanted to be surprised by something. Course i've been dumbstruck by perfect pines, junipers or others japaneese bonsaï that i was looking for but my favorites ones had always inside of them a special detail or a special nuance. At the end it's the same with my friends, the place i live or in all the things i'm practicing and this link is the emulation. That is to say that i feed the others imagination as a much as i'm fed by them. Same inter action.

I find that it is the scarcity in the bonsai world. Like if always we had to choose between different schools or skills without having the possibility to use all of them in the same practise. Thati to say that if you like Murata style you have to practice only like Murata do. Same for all the masters all arround the world. A kind of uniformity of thoughts and desires. The most interstings things i've done in bonsaï was always done with open-minded people. And i'm sure that's because they have never closed the field of possibilities that can offer the végétal. Juts drink a beer or a tea together, smile to the life and breack few trunks and branches for the pleasure of creation. At the end it was always friendly.

There's many people on IBC that are living so far from me that i'm sure that i will have the time to meet all of them. But at the same time no need to meet them for real cause i can see, i can feel, i can hear from there; by the trees they are making, by the writes they are producing, that everything would be cool and that we could have very good time just making bonsaï together and mixing the colors of life through the trees.

I can't speack for others countries, i've not visited all of them but in France the bonsaï is to sclerotic to me. To much rules, to much japaneese fantasm, to much fears and to much self-proclamed masters of thoughts. Who's got the truth ? Is there only one way ? Why ? I still asked myself this question, to me and to my friends when they asked me wich bonsaï is the most beautifull for me ? All of them, they are all different and they all have something to learn to you. The pitty is that because of that many of young people that are starting this art are quickly discouraged by the olders that are saying them that it's very hard to learn, that they have to do like this or like that if they want to one day have right to start mooving a tree.

I thing we should say to young generation that want to practice this art to take a simple rooted branch, to put it in a big box full of earth and just make it grow, wire it, put it out, make it grow, wire it and put it out again and again until the day he will be satisfied.... only with his own inspiration, own experience and own conscience. Exactly like have done the first bonsaî makers by the past before the time of "rules" where coming. Just learn to think by themself.

The triangle that is the base of making a bonsaï is something that terrify the beginners. And at the end it's not an esthetic rule like i tell them, it's just an horticultural obligation. Just the fact that all the branches need to take the light from the sun. That's why all the bonsai practicers are always using an eliptic system, just to distibute egally the light on the branches. But, what happend inside this trinagle is not important. No need to your branches to be straight. At the end, there's no limit, the only one is the imagination and your horticultural capacity. Then you can marry the tree you want, with the pot you want, with the rock ypu want and marry it with another and another... etc.. There's no limit once again. The only real one is the size of your car tunck. That explain maybe why the bonsaï is so small, to be transported to another nursery or another show. Except that constraint evribody agree that we could made the size of the tree we like if we had the material, the time and the capabilities we have.

So, sorry to have made us waste your time but i wanted to invit the young generations, to choose a specie, put a simple cutting into a big pot and to make it grow.... At the end, bonsai is not so difficult, it's just feeling, time and lot of pleasure.

All the rest is just a philosophic story, and everyone have to live with the one of his choice.

Hi Law , I like your words. I spent a big part of my day at work thinking about how creativity in the bonsai world is often discouraged just because it doesn't fit in with how things are supposed to be . My thread in life has always been to do exactly what i feel is right and not what i'm supposed to be doing because the rest of the crowd are doing it.
I like your style of bonsai . Inspiring.
Smithy

Your words and sketches touched me on an inspirational level - thanks!

Lennard

I would suspect that your first language is french, so i marveled at how well you could express yourself in english

It would be my hope that this wonderful hobby gifted to the japanese from china, would continue around the world and would be changed and adapted to the local citizenry as happened in japan from china. Hopefully the hobby will be unique and different around the world, not just a mere reflection of what the japanese have contributed. How important to use LOCAL trees!

It is important to encourage the interest of youth in the hobby. They are the future. efforts need to be made to take the hobby into
grade schools as areas of learning in horticulture and of art.

Last night my 2 1/2 year old grandson was over visiting. as we passed by my collection, I asked off hand..."what are all these little trees"....and he got real serious and pronounced the word properly...."they're bone-sigh grandpa, bonsai"...... I'm all for setting up scholarships for high school students who would like to take summer instruction. Maybe even an opportunity to apply for a scholarship to study under a master somewhere else then their home country. Fund raising could be handled by various clubs to make this happen. the end result would be international friendships created by a hobby that encourages nuturing and preserving things. something important for the next generation to grasp if this world is to continue.

Can't say it better.

And thank you for my "English" even if he is very far to be as good as i would like it to be.

Your essay on the subject of "bone-sigh" is ( as Smithy has illustrated ) as much an essay on life. The older you get the more you realise the truth of it , but usually it is too late to act on it.
Your English adds to it - not detracts from it - and the artist in you gives it soul.
Best wishes.

you know what is your talent law?

i guess the most obvious is ....to open the minds....

opening the limitless possibilities field of art is the same than giving an uninterrested help to someone
it is a gift similar to a seed that will grow in the minds...freely


now...you will see the ones who take care of their precious seeds and make em grow
and the others....you know....the worth deaf is the one that doesn t want to ear

sit down... look....laugh and have a pickle...

Great post Law

If everyone did the same thing / liked the same things etc .... how boreing would this life be?

It's always great and very welcome to here someone explain his aspect on this art and the way of thinking in general.

I think open minded teachers are best and because of that sometimes they become pupils and that way everyone and art itself can be evolving...
Myself i do like traditional looks but that does not mean I do not want to (or can't) see anything else in the tree - i just like them that way more but would never disagree with someone that has totaly different vision he wants to pursuit.
I don't see how would someone disagree on a philosophy that accepts all and everything (i am not being sarcastic)

Thanks for taking the time to post your looong thoughts.

Hi Law,

I can appreciate what you say!

I have a simple idea of bonsai. For me I enjoy the process of making small (sometimes big) trees in pots. So for me, this hobby is about the journey, and less about the end result. Importantly, it is about my journey, and not a Japanese man's journey. It is about my culture and my soul, not that of a Japanese man, so very simply, my trees must be about me, and they must be for me. I can fully understand that there are others who like to emulate what happens in Japan, and that's fine. They produce some wonderful bonsai's from which I draw inspiration and for which I have admiration. I draw inspiration from the Japanese and Chinese, but I will not let their mindset rule mine, and I will strive for my own outcomes, not to replicate someone else's. I hear too often that "that's not good bonsai", or "we don't do that in bonsai". Well, that's not my problem, and just as bonsai changed when it went from China to Japan, so I'm happy for it to change when it comes from Japan to me. Perhaps if I change the name to something different, some people will feel more comfortable. So am I wrong or am I right? That's debatable. Do I care? No. Can my trees be improved? Sure they can! Are they perfect? No. Do they all conform? No. Do they make me happy? Definitely. Is that what is important? Definitely!

Regards,

Andrew

nice topic.......i'll read it a few more times too.

my greatest (bonsai) enjoyment comes from styling nice material - it doesn't matter if they are styled in a japanese style, a natural style or a unique style - i do all depending on the tree. These days i make my trees how i like to see them, some people may like them too, others would certainly do it differently. It is very important though to think about other peoples comments - there are times when an even better tree can be made, one that is missed until others see it with new eyes.

our lives are reflected in all we do - and bonsai is just a further an expression of that, in many aspects japanese asthetics and styling is better - but that is because they had a head start and managed to perfect what looks good to people before the rest of us.

marcus

Thank You for the wonderful observations...It is a journey not only in horticulture, but through many lands of wonders...and one of the best is this:

There's many people on IBC that are living so far from me that i'm sure that i will have the time to meet all of them. But at the same time no need to meet them for real cause i can see, i can feel, i can hear from there; by the trees they are making, by the writes they are producing, that everything would be cool and that we could have very good time just making bonsaï together and mixing the colors of life through the trees.

Dick Benbow,
Are You the same Dick that loves Koi too much?

Really nice & encouraging words, Law!
After your knotted pine, I understand you far better now.
Where have you been 10-12 years ago, when I was scared of getting into bonsai!?

@ Rick

Rick36 wrote:
the older you get
the more you realise the truth of it ,
but usually
it is too late to act on it.

I like your poem also

Taner

LOL, yes, I've been passionate about Koi for close to 35 years. Known as "the Koi coach", it has been my Joy to travel to many west and mid west clubs and share my knowledge. I find as i add more and more japanese hobbies, the knowledge of each contributes to the sum of the whole.

But don't get me wrong, i love my bonsai, suiseki, mums, ikebana just as passionately

We grow our Bonsai not for size, or fruit, but for beauty.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Beauty is truth revealed.

Heaven, man and earth, all points on the triangle as are the head, the heart and the hand, or the intellect, the emotion and the craft.

First horticultural health, then design. Dare to dream

Lastly, look not to the finger that points to the moon, but the moon itself, just as you should not follow the footsteps of the master, but the light that he follows.

Later................................................................

To be really clear. I don't say that japaneese way is not a style to follow. It's a very very good school, very strict, organised and constructive. I use it all the time in my trees. It's a perfect base to start creating and learning the bonsaï. I just say that there is many others and that we can mix all of them in a universal seek.

By reading our answers i can feel that most of us want to liberate their soul concerning what we "have to do" and what we are "free to do".

At the end just a question of freedom to use all the technics and styles that are offered to us. Simply.
[/url[url=https://servimg.com/view/14712944/980][/url[url=https://servimg.com/view/14712944/981]

Hello Law
Just a tree in France.
Sunip

Like the way you think, Law - if it feels right just do it. Second that

Dave

[img][/img]

Oshu,

any chance for a close-up of that tree?
Thanks in advance,
Khaimraj

Hello Oshu.
Is this an advertisement picture for mens perfume or jeans???
Or is this only your portray taken?
Sunip

the adonis on the picture is laurent darrieux aka law ...
biceps and bonsai

Apologies Cram,

I never looked at the Kodama Art Studio before, pretty good work.
Thank you.
Khaimraj

Loved this - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3CaWDecjn_o/TgGM5Kt3xpI/AAAAAAAABK4/ZVlKztGZDU0/s1600/DSCN0874.gif