scots pine

Hallo, I worked on this scots pine with my bonsai teacher today. Pine is very old yamadori from Austria.

The last time I saw you 'Teacher' we were up a VERY high mountain, please send him my regards

Tony

hi Tony,
I know, I saw some photos. I'll tell greetings to my Teacher

Nice. Can you tell us more about this tree?
I like the way it has not been shortened and has been developed into the slender beauty shown!
Regards Nick

Hi Milan,
I hope you dont mind me giving some comments on the work you did with your teacher?



The foliage is nicely classical placed, suitable for a tree with this kind of slender image. But there is something that bothers me a lot and that is the very high and thin trunk line of the image that you created in this way.
If you look at the two yellow arrows, you see that the tree has sharply turned on it self. This means that a long time ago some force of nature forced it to grow that way. These turn and full twist are a fixed fact on this tree. So this means that you should try to creat your design around those features if you want to tell a logical story! With styling this tree in a (very) tall literati, you tell two different stories that are just not very logical. Especially if you look at the long straight parts of the lower trunk (red lines)! You see a beautiful twist to the left, than a long straight section, than a amazing full twist to the right side that is followed by a other long straight and very thin section! That is followed with a long stretched mass of foliage that makes the tree look even taller. These contradictions make the tree uneasy to look at. It leaves me with a unsettling feeling that something is wrong in the total image of this design. Especially that second straight section is bothering me, I think that by giving the tree more movement here a lot could be improved.
But in my humble opinion, a tree with these extreme contrasts in trunk line, could be better styled in a way more suitable to the story it is trying to tell to us! I would shorten the tree considerably, bring the rest of the foliage way down and style the tree just as extreme as those trunk curls suggest. But that is just my idea and I hope you did not mind me saying so?!
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Possibly in this direction?

Howzit Walter,

I really like your virt. It's very simple and believable. The trunk lines are much more dramatic and tells a much better story about it's survival.

A Hui Hou,
-Tim

I like Walter's idea too (nice pot!), the tree brought closer to the main trunk a bit more:



But then, perhaps this works too :



-dorothy

Walter Pall wrote:Possibly in this direction?

Yes Walter! Some thing like your virtual is just what I mean! It is such a improvement and it makes the story of this battered and twisted tree so much more believable! By making this tree 50% smaller, it looks 100% taller!!!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

After I wrote my post and saw all those great victuals, I felt that I could not stay behind! So I made one as well to convey my feelings about how I would try to use the some what extreme movements in the trunk line to my advantage. It would need some extreme branch bending, that might take a wile, but it would be doable. In a tree with these severe trunk twists it is allowed to use some more abrupt curves in the top section. I think that something like this would look very dynamic and beautiful.
Hope you like my extreme idea?



Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Lucky you, Milan Karpíšek!
Look how many brilliant ideas all these remarkable people present to you!
I feel a bit jealous....

What both Hans and Walter have accomplished in their virts is bringing the attention of the viewer back to the only part that really matters on this tree... the base. Anything which makes the eye end somewhere else on the tree is a waste of valuable real estate.

I totally appreciate the organizational skill that goes into creating that nice neat appearance, but the value of the tree is not in it's foliar mass.

Love the virts folks!

Victrinia

I think dorothy's #1 virtual combined with walter's foliage/branch design would be the best of all worlds.

very nice virtual Hans, when I made bonsai tree of the pine. I go this way.

Okay I will bring it straight
This tree is beautiful by the way has grown, it is nice to see what nature can. Will it just solitaire, which will be planted in a pot in my teachers bonsai garden. In the future will only improve the structure of the partially refined but all too gradually over several years. It is important to remember that this tree has never been a quality show tree. The second thing is that the is in the Teacher's garden of a lot better yamadori pine, which are better suited to some bonsai. For this reason, the tree will not significantly remake. As nice as it is and it's a tree! Pine I like especially the one imperfection, and thus it goes against some rules. Nothing less today, there was Luke Sirotný and saw live the tree so definitely write his opinion.
I am glad that I unleashed interesting comments, thanks all;)

So Milan,

of course it is your tree and it has to suit your aesthetic requirements. But there again, what is the point of doing bonsai, if not to get better and make better trees?

very nice... I'm especial like Hans van Meer Idea

i vote for hans van meer as well

I perfer walter's design it allows the eye to follow the trunkilne unobstructed all the way to the foliage and makes a very believable path for this pine.

I like very much Hans' virtual!