Large Taxus cuspidata

Truly awesome transformation Pavel. And Mirek must be VERY pleased......he's smiling!

Hi all

New foto today.
Gretings Pavel

Thats just great!
By the way, what do you call that growing in the pot? (Not the tree!)

good job pavel. wish we could grow yew here. I saw many stunning raw material yew while in japan.

best wishes, sam

Hi Storm and Sam

Thank you very much for yours very nice replies.

Pavel

Hi Pavel

Great Tree, good job.

Kind regards Yvonne

I Am late posting but you have a very nice tree!! such wood work..great job take care john

Hi Yvonne and John

Thank you very much foor nice compliments.
Pavel

Very nice progression. Truly inspiring work!

Hi Brian
Thank you very much for nice replies.
Pavel

Hi all friends

Yesterday I worked another restyling Yew.




Yew after restyling 2013


and foto Josef Vrážel


Greetings Pavel
more pict.: http://www.bonsaivigi.cz/fotoalbum/tvarovani-a-vyvoj---styling-and-development/taxus-cuspidata-2010---large-_m_-skrabal_/

Amazing progression Pavel. The tree is responding very well to your horticultural care, as well. That yew looks very healthy and strong.

I like your work on this tree such as the other yew looks very ancient . mirek is lucky guy possessing trees like this
tell my this is nursery stock or import from Japan ??

Hi Pavel,
Mirek is so lucky to have a friend as talented as you. Beautiful as usual!!
Tona

Hi Auballagh , sabamiki and Tona

Thank you very much for yours very nice coments and compliments.
Yes, Yew is import from Japan.

Greetings Pavel

Hi Pavel!
When can we expect you at the Noelanders show.

Regards, Jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey. Maybe sometimes. Trees exhibiting very little.

Greetings Pavel

hi Pavel,

do you think the eye is now taken away from the best natural feature the tree has - (the deadwood) by the direction the branches and apex have been styled in?

the last few days i have been with Ryan Neil and one of the many things he shared was the importance of directing the viewer to the best features of a tree by the way we style the other bits. This taxus now has trunk, primary branch and apex all taking the attention away from the deadwood. I must admit the last 3 days have been a total eye opener into begining to really seeing bonsai properly and i know i have lots of work to do on my trees !

lovely styling, but i think it may not be the final design

best wishes Marcus

marcus watts wrote:hi Pavel,

do you think the eye is now taken away from the best natural feature the tree has - (the deadwood) by the direction the branches and apex have been styled in?

the last few days i have been with Ryan Neil and one of the many things he shared was the importance of directing the viewer to the best features of a tree by the way we style the other bits. This taxus now has trunk, primary branch and apex all taking the attention away from the deadwood. I must admit the last 3 days have been a total eye opener into begining to really seeing bonsai properly and i know i have lots of work to do on my trees !

lovely styling, but i think it may not be the final design

best wishes Marcus

Hi Marcus,
In what way do you feel that the attention is being taken away from the deadwood? As far as I can see, the deadwood is just as visible as always - the only difference being that it has now lost the glaring, bleached appearance of newly treated wood. I cannot see how the styling of the branches and apex have effected anything in that sense.

hi Lee,

every tree has one outstanding and 'most valuble' (not monetary) feature. This taxus shows age and interest because it has a powerfull base and a lovely deadwood feature on the right.

the job of the styler is to make the most of this feature and to make sure the viewer is drawn to it while still enjoying the entire tree - it is about how your eye follows the tree - where you want to look, where you are drawn to look etc, and more importantly where you should look -it has nothing to do with if the wood is bleached etc . This tree has its best natural feature to the right - the trunk/ planting angle used is very left, the long primary branch and all long branches are going left and the bulk of the apex is also on the left - so every part of the design now makes you look away from the best natural feature the tree had. Remember the bits we wire, style, move etc, and the planting angle can be basically put in the best place to enhance the best bits given to us at the start

To have this shown and explained was a revelation after so many years in this hobby - because it really works and the difference between a harmonious design and an 'uncomfortable' one become clearly seen once you look at a whole tree rather than just areas - The demo Ryan did yesterday on a cuspidata could have been very simple as there was an obvious cascade but the best bit of the tree was on the right (natural deadwood) and all the trunk and green bits were way off to the left and hanging down low. He told us the obvious design is not always the best design so it took great skill and confidence to move the foliage and trunk back towards the deadwood, up higher and towards the front - it was bonsai styling on another level.

hope this explains my first comment lee.

cheers Marcus

Hi Marcus.
Thanks for an interesting comment. Yes, you can, change styling. Maybe you, maybe Ryan, Lee and perhaps maybe even more. But for me, this tree is ok. My idea is not conducted primarily on dead wood. For me it is the intention trunk direction. movement and space. Dead wood only adds and composition starts from the right side to the left side. But as you write, change is possible for anyone.

Greetings Pavel

marcus watts wrote:hi Lee,

every tree has one outstanding and 'most valuble' (not monetary) feature. This taxus shows age and interest because it has a powerfull base and a lovely deadwood feature on the right.

the job of the styler is to make the most of this feature and to make sure the viewer is drawn to it while still enjoying the entire tree - it is about how your eye follows the tree - where you want to look, where you are drawn to look etc, and more importantly where you should look -it has nothing to do with if the wood is bleached etc . This tree has its best natural feature to the right - the trunk/ planting angle used is very left, the long primary branch and all long branches are going left and the bulk of the apex is also on the left - so every part of the design now makes you look away from the best natural feature the tree had. Remember the bits we wire, style, move etc, and the planting angle can be basically put in the best place to enhance the best bits given to us at the start

To have this shown and explained was a revelation after so many years in this hobby - because it really works and the difference between a harmonious design and an 'uncomfortable' one become clearly seen once you look at a whole tree rather than just areas - The demo Ryan did yesterday on a cuspidata could have been very simple as there was an obvious cascade but the best bit of the tree was on the right (natural deadwood) and all the trunk and green bits were way off to the left and hanging down low. He told us the obvious design is not always the best design so it took great skill and confidence to move the foliage and trunk back towards the deadwood, up higher and towards the front - it was bonsai styling on another level.

hope this explains my first comment lee.

cheers Marcus

Hi Marcus,

I understand what you are saying and I agree with you in the principle but as you say confidence might be required. The client might not be happy with changing the design drastically and so an agreement has to be in place or even taste changed. Pavel might have had several ideas all excellent and the client might have chosen this one amongst the lot. If I was the owner of the tree and taken the tree to pavel, I would have said "I like the deadwood and base, so whatever you choose as the design focus on this". The reason being that the tree will sit in my garden with me staring at it for quite some time. Maybe you could offer a virtual to illustrate your point. As someone who is starting out on bonsai, and I am a complete novice, my primitive idea (If I was forced to give a style of the tree at gunpoint) would be to reduce the height of the tree by creating deadwood at the top, just enough to complement the bottom deadwood and make the movement towards the lower deadwood as you have suggested. A compact design, synergy between two deadwood areas with balance of foliage in the centre towards the lower. But, this is me who is a complete novice and given the choice I would be happy with pavel's design at this early stage of my bonsai learning because he is more experienced than I am and maybe my taste needs to mature and develop and my wild inner self needs to be tamed. I like design that wow though, so I really don't know and I am in agreement with you on your analysis of the tree. If I am out of place here commenting as a novice and there are the more experienced then I am sorry and just consider this as ignorance on my part.

Cheers,
Adam

Great progression Pavel. I like how you keep your topics updated. Mireks collection is extremely impressive.

marcus watts wrote:hi Lee,

every tree has one outstanding and 'most valuble' (not monetary) feature. This taxus shows age and interest because it has a powerfull base and a lovely deadwood feature on the right.

the job of the styler is to make the most of this feature and to make sure the viewer is drawn to it while still enjoying the entire tree - it is about how your eye follows the tree - where you want to look, where you are drawn to look etc, and more importantly where you should look -it has nothing to do with if the wood is bleached etc . This tree has its best natural feature to the right - the trunk/ planting angle used is very left, the long primary branch and all long branches are going left and the bulk of the apex is also on the left - so every part of the design now makes you look away from the best natural feature the tree had. Remember the bits we wire, style, move etc, and the planting angle can be basically put in the best place to enhance the best bits given to us at the start

To have this shown and explained was a revelation after so many years in this hobby - because it really works and the difference between a harmonious design and an 'uncomfortable' one become clearly seen once you look at a whole tree rather than just areas - The demo Ryan did yesterday on a cuspidata could have been very simple as there was an obvious cascade but the best bit of the tree was on the right (natural deadwood) and all the trunk and green bits were way off to the left and hanging down low. He told us the obvious design is not always the best design so it took great skill and confidence to move the foliage and trunk back towards the deadwood, up higher and towards the front - it was bonsai styling on another level.

hope this explains my first comment lee.

cheers Marcus

Thanks for the explanation, Marcus. Some very interesting points, but personally I see this tree quite differently. Although the tree's movement is to the left, the space around the upper area of deadwood initially draws my eye there, and then the right hand branches lead my eye down to the lower area of deadwood there.
Regards, Lee.

marcus watts wrote:hi Lee,

every tree has one outstanding and 'most valuble' (not monetary) feature. This taxus shows age and interest because it has a powerfull base and a lovely deadwood feature on the right.

the job of the styler is to make the most of this feature and to make sure the viewer is drawn to it while still enjoying the entire tree - it is about how your eye follows the tree - where you want to look, where you are drawn to look etc, and more importantly where you should look -it has nothing to do with if the wood is bleached etc . This tree has its best natural feature to the right - the trunk/ planting angle used is very left, the long primary branch and all long branches are going left and the bulk of the apex is also on the left - so every part of the design now makes you look away from the best natural feature the tree had. Remember the bits we wire, style, move etc, and the planting angle can be basically put in the best place to enhance the best bits given to us at the start

To have this shown and explained was a revelation after so many years in this hobby - because it really works and the difference between a harmonious design and an 'uncomfortable' one become clearly seen once you look at a whole tree rather than just areas - The demo Ryan did yesterday on a cuspidata could have been very simple as there was an obvious cascade but the best bit of the tree was on the right (natural deadwood) and all the trunk and green bits were way off to the left and hanging down low. He told us the obvious design is not always the best design so it took great skill and confidence to move the foliage and trunk back towards the deadwood, up higher and towards the front - it was bonsai styling on another level.

hope this explains my first comment lee.

cheers Marcus

I guess you are talking about this (about 50 mins in)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEfke0XAag0