About one week prior to exhibiting this tree, Brian (BVF) suggested that ideally a shift of the tree to the left of the pot would be a significant improvement. Before doing anything, I did a virtual to see what it would look like. I ended up liking the results very much and discussed with Brian if it was worth the risk. We decided it was! Brian also suggested to comb the roots out rather than cutting them back which was a much better way to go. It was late summer with a heat wave hitting New Jersey and just a few days before show time! Yes… no doubt perfect timing!!
I told Brian not to worry. If the tree died it would only be his fault!!
So with everything to loose but even more to gain I proceeded with the operation.
This is what my display looked like. At this point the only major task left was to apply moss. As you can see the tree is centered in the pot.
And this is what it looked like about 5 minutes later!
Combed out the roots on the left so that I could move tree over in the pot.
About 15 minutes later "Operation Pygmy Maple" had been completed. The tree now sits to the left. The effect is subtle. This creates a nice negative space to the right of the tree and the composition looks somehow more "considered".
And this is what it finally looked like at the 4TH US NATIONAL EXHIBITION.
Detail of accent plant.
Also I want to mention that I was honored to meet some big names in the business throughout the weekend. Even better was to have some greats like John Romano, Colin Lewis and Boon to do a private critique of my tree. It was fantastic to get just 10 minutes with these guys.
I had the chance to spend a little more time with John Romano who had one of my favorite shohin displays at the show and one of the nicest guys around! Thanks John!
To think, you weren't even going to show...
. By the way, I can't agree with you more about John R. Just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet...and he knows his way around shohin (and bonsai in general) as well as anybody.
Hmmm it shows up fine on my screen.
