Hawthorn raft

Hi,
At Dragon bonsai's Wednesday workshop, John Harris continued working on his hawthorn raft.

This is how the raft looked 12 months ago.


and one month ago.


John further wired and shaped the raft.



Here is the raft at the endof the workshop.


A picture of the 12 months progress.

Excellent
Very elegant creations, like me!

Very nice indeed Geremy!

I absolutely like the composition. I think if it was mine, I would be removing the final zigzag from the tallest tree and start working on refining the apex and increasing ramification in the lower branches.

I would go one further than that Rick and take all the present
apex,s OFF! from the three trunks, they are all just too tall !
the mature apex image is one below

ALEX

alex e wrote:I would go one further than that Rick and take all the present
apex,s OFF! from the three trunks, they are all just too tall !
the mature apex image is one below

ALEX

Ouch! I was trying to be nice I have been blamed in the past for being to direct. But, yes you are right

I thought initially, that a reduction of all the apexes, would improve the overall image but the more I look at it, the more I like the taller elegance. With a few more years refining, its going to be stunning

will baddeley wrote:I thought initially, that a reduction of all the apexes, would improve the overall image but the more I look at it, the more I like the taller elegance. With a few more years refining, its going to be stunning

Hi Will in which case all the apex,s should at least be going in the same direction,
the energy and flow from the tallest tree should be emulated in all the other trunks !
would you agree
regards Alex

alex e wrote:

will baddeley wrote:I thought initially, that a reduction of all the apexes, would improve the overall image but the more I look at it, the more I like the taller elegance. With a few more years refining, its going to be stunning

Hi Will in which case all the apex,s should at least be going in the same direction,
the energy and flow from the tallest tree should be emulated in all the other trunks !
would you agree
regards Alex

Yes I think your right Alex. Placing the leaders, so that they move away from each other and into future invisaged space and light.

I agree about the apexes, but I find it hard to really critique/design a tree from a 2D picture. I think John G's videos (and now Tony Ts) where you can see the trees in the round make it a lot easier to actually give a meaningful opinion about a tree.

I really like this raft though....2D or not.

...

Hi Erik, mmm! almost!, not sure about the tallest being that
reduced the taper gets lost making it look a bit sausage like,
still watching the Locra dvd

Alex

John, after reading the replies to the earlier post felt he needed to explain a little about the process he is undertaking with this raft.
He has allowed the apexes on the 2 smaller trunks to extend to achieve a better taper on each.
In the future he fully intends to reduce each to balance the 3 trunks, once he has what he planned.

The raft has a long history, dug by John 9 years ago and given to a friend, the raft was a little neglected over the last few years. So when John took over ownership a year ago, there was a lot of catching up and cutting back to do.

I feel the progress the raft has made in the last 12 months in John's hands is very good.

Jeremy,

Thanks for the explanation, it has indeed come a long way in John's capable hands. From the last picture it is obvious the tree might have been posted prematurely. We can see is the last pic that the tree (tallest) is now guy wired a little more upright. I know the guy wire is on the branch but it is also changing what appears to be the angle on the trunk which is fine.

The flow of this tree is entirely to the left. I have virted the last photo to indicate my thoughts. Therefore IMHO it is alright to Zig, but not Zag. Unless there is a plan to remove at a later date, but too much zigzag creates tension and distraction.

The large branch on the second tree will need to be removed at some point in time when budding occurs in the general area of the fat branch. It is nearly the same size as the one on the taller tree. IMO at some point it should have been carried out, but as you stated this tree was neglected for some time, and will need time to repair.

This tree has a very promising future. I like the drama of its majesty. Having said that it does have some flaws that need addressing before they turn into bigger problems IMO.

[img][/img]

John....
over to you mate.....