Getting Good at Bonsai
- Thread starter one_bonsai
- Start date
Tieball
Masterpiece
Cracked me up! Still laughing.
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
Some peole never killed a tree and after 10 or 20 years, they just have... boring bonsai.
Others killed many trees and have now masterpieces.
The medium path is probably what most good bonsai artists have followed. Try and error, but the faster you learn the better you are. Plus : a sense of "artistry", but can it be taught, and learned ?...
Philosophical contribution of the day I made. May the patience with you be.
Why like a guru that a German syntax have speak I suddenly ?...
Others killed many trees and have now masterpieces.
The medium path is probably what most good bonsai artists have followed. Try and error, but the faster you learn the better you are. Plus : a sense of "artistry", but can it be taught, and learned ?...
Philosophical contribution of the day I made. May the patience with you be.
Why like a guru that a German syntax have speak I suddenly ?...
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
I didn't know Yoda was German?Some peole never killed a tree and after 10 or 20 years, they just have... boring bonsai.
Others killed many trees and have now masterpieces.
The medium path is probably what most good bonsai artists have followed. Try and error, but the faster you learn the better you are. Plus : a sense of "artistry", but can it be taught, and learned ?...
Philosophical contribution of the day I made. May the patience with you be.
Why like a guru that a German syntax have speak I suddenly ?...
I don't know how long it will take you to get good at bonsai. No one does. Too many factors involved. I get frustrated with my own lack of progress. It is especially hard when you start looking at some of the fantastic trees posted here. I think progress is easier to see when it comes to other people's skills and we tend to think our own progress is nonexistent. One suggestion I would make is to take a picture of your collection today (1 tree can be a collection 
). A group photo. Work on your trees and take another picture a year from now and so on. I think you may be surprised at the progress your collection can make as time goes by.
). A group photo. Work on your trees and take another picture a year from now and so on. I think you may be surprised at the progress your collection can make as time goes by.
Paulpash
Masterpiece
If you're on a budget buy cheap stuff at garden centres and style them. Then move on to better pre bonsai and / or propagate and grow on your own if you have a patch of land handy. Getting good at wiring is certainly a key factor in improving the quality of your bonsai.
You WILL kill stuff - just make sure it's the cheap stick in a pot that chokes!
You WILL kill stuff - just make sure it's the cheap stick in a pot that chokes!
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
What?
German Yoda was he not ?
My mind blown izt.
Just vor de fön :
Es izt git, growing Bonsai in dem Fremdemland
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
I'm sorry....I'm racist. Have to be in EnglishWhat?
German Yoda was he not ?
My mind blown izt.
Just vor de fön :
View attachment 254690
Es izt git, growing Bonsai in dem Fremdemland
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
What species, or cultivar ?
Koinéization:
“Somesociolinguists believe that variants found in the majority of contributing dialects are those most likely to be retained. Others argue either that the variants used by the largest number of individual speakers become part of a koine or that demographical,social, cultural, occupational,and political factors—the social traits and status of various speakers and groups—outweigh linguistic factors in determining which elements compose akoine.”(Longmore 527)
Mazette ! Blimey / Holy cow !
Trainers, loafers, plimsolls, sneakers, ...
Alles der same, ma differente !
And Ich liebe my pasta al' dente
But, OK, I can write, and speak an acceptable form of English. Like some can speak a very decent form of French.
And I love you.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
You have to realize how incomplete this question is if you REALLY want to get good at Bonsai.
Paint the Fence.
Sorce
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Hillbilly?
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,437
- Reaction score
- 23,652
- USDA Zone
- 5b
Back in 1992 a friend of mine briefly owned a bonsai shop (defunct by 1995). One day I was there and she asked me to help. Serissa in 4 inch black plastic pots, she had 100 of them. I ''picked a front'' wired the 2 or 3 branches, repotted to low grade generic bonsai pots, watered and set into her recovery grow light system. I did maybe 35 of the 100, while she did the rest. We were talking about bonsai, the whole time. Then a month or so later, florist's azalea, same routine, take out of the plastic pot. Put on a few pieces of wire, make 'em as attractive as possible, set them into the recovery area. Did many menial chores for her in between. I learned lots of fragments of the "Bonsai Body of Knowledge". But the repetition of certain activities, like wiring, really helped me.
Nothing beats repetition, repeatedly solving the same problems like pick a front, wire to general shape, pick a ''good enough'' pot from the assortment of production grade pottery. Do this shaping without removing significant branches, let the customer have choices available. I leaned a lot, and greatly improved my own confidence at getting started with material in front of me.
Did a couple years of helping out make me a pro? Hell no. But it did teach me a few things.
So as Walter Pall suggested with the learning Piano example - practice practice practice. And as far as staying in tune? There is such a thing as ''close enough for folk" (folk music).
Some people have "the knack" and very little practice and they are turning out really nice trees. Most of us have to learn larger amounts. "The Bonsai Body of Knowledge" is wide and deep. It takes a lifetime to learn. Nobody ever gets it all. There are distinct aspects, the horticulture for each species you encounter. The artistic elements. The training techniques you would only use on young trees. The training techniques you would only use on older trees, trees advanced toward being show pieces. It is wide and deep. Those that go into bonsai with a solid horticultural background tend to advance quickly. Those that come from creative fields like architecture, graphic artists, designers, they tend to be able to be creative early in their bonsai careers. Dentists tend to make particularly well detailed bonsai. The smallest detail the dentist is willing to work until it just perfect.
So we all come to the hobby with different strengths. My strength is I know basics of horticulture. My weakness is artistic design. I use formulas because quite honestly, I often do not have the artistic vision to ''create'' out of the blue.
So it is not a simple question.
@AlainK - That cartoon is exactly like the way grandparents and their generation would speak, though I believe the dialect of German the cartoon used was Yiddish. My grandparents spoke Schwabisch, Sie sind Donauschwaben. For those that don't know, an area along the Danube River at the eastern edge of modern day Hungary, where it borders Serbia and Croatia. My great-grandparents emigrated to USA just before WW1, bringing my grandparents who were already teenagers, so they were already ''fixed'' in their languages, and always had noticeable accents. They settled in Chicago, in a neighbor with many Donauschwaben, I remember walking to the grocery store with my grandmother, and the old folks (her age at the time, younger than me now) would be sitting on their front porches. The conversation was in exactly this sort of mashed up Schwäbisch-English-Hochdeutsch with some Hungarian or Serbian too. Point, I get the cartoon.
But then again, I am being too literal? "I'm beginning to think you are right"
Nothing beats repetition, repeatedly solving the same problems like pick a front, wire to general shape, pick a ''good enough'' pot from the assortment of production grade pottery. Do this shaping without removing significant branches, let the customer have choices available. I leaned a lot, and greatly improved my own confidence at getting started with material in front of me.
Did a couple years of helping out make me a pro? Hell no. But it did teach me a few things.
So as Walter Pall suggested with the learning Piano example - practice practice practice. And as far as staying in tune? There is such a thing as ''close enough for folk" (folk music).
Some people have "the knack" and very little practice and they are turning out really nice trees. Most of us have to learn larger amounts. "The Bonsai Body of Knowledge" is wide and deep. It takes a lifetime to learn. Nobody ever gets it all. There are distinct aspects, the horticulture for each species you encounter. The artistic elements. The training techniques you would only use on young trees. The training techniques you would only use on older trees, trees advanced toward being show pieces. It is wide and deep. Those that go into bonsai with a solid horticultural background tend to advance quickly. Those that come from creative fields like architecture, graphic artists, designers, they tend to be able to be creative early in their bonsai careers. Dentists tend to make particularly well detailed bonsai. The smallest detail the dentist is willing to work until it just perfect.
So we all come to the hobby with different strengths. My strength is I know basics of horticulture. My weakness is artistic design. I use formulas because quite honestly, I often do not have the artistic vision to ''create'' out of the blue.
So it is not a simple question.
@AlainK - That cartoon is exactly like the way grandparents and their generation would speak, though I believe the dialect of German the cartoon used was Yiddish. My grandparents spoke Schwabisch, Sie sind Donauschwaben. For those that don't know, an area along the Danube River at the eastern edge of modern day Hungary, where it borders Serbia and Croatia. My great-grandparents emigrated to USA just before WW1, bringing my grandparents who were already teenagers, so they were already ''fixed'' in their languages, and always had noticeable accents. They settled in Chicago, in a neighbor with many Donauschwaben, I remember walking to the grocery store with my grandmother, and the old folks (her age at the time, younger than me now) would be sitting on their front porches. The conversation was in exactly this sort of mashed up Schwäbisch-English-Hochdeutsch with some Hungarian or Serbian too. Point, I get the cartoon.
But then again, I am being too literal? "I'm beginning to think you are right"
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
No one here can say anything about my accent
I used to have a slight southern accent when my parents moved from Massif Central to the Loire valley when I was 6, but now I have a very "pure" form of French, a sort of equivalent of "BBC English". Yet, there are a few words that I will always pronounce my own, even if most people say it differently. It's like putting a very small, almost invisible hint to where I spent my early years.
We would speak French at home, Polish was when my parents were having an argument. Yiddish was something that came much later, a sort of echo in a void that was the part my parents never spoke about.
Getting good at bonsai.
No one will ever be good at anything, including bonsai, if they don't know who they are : know yourself, make good bonsai.
And yes, there are cultural differences
I used to have a slight southern accent when my parents moved from Massif Central to the Loire valley when I was 6, but now I have a very "pure" form of French, a sort of equivalent of "BBC English". Yet, there are a few words that I will always pronounce my own, even if most people say it differently. It's like putting a very small, almost invisible hint to where I spent my early years.
We would speak French at home, Polish was when my parents were having an argument. Yiddish was something that came much later, a sort of echo in a void that was the part my parents never spoke about.
Getting good at bonsai.
No one will ever be good at anything, including bonsai, if they don't know who they are : know yourself, make good bonsai.
And yes, there are cultural differences
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
D
Deleted member 21616
Guest
what do you mean by ‘at bonsai’?
is the nurseryman developing pre-bonsai and selling it ‘doing bonsai’?
is the person buying 60 year old material and adding guy wires ‘doing bonsai’?
is the person teaching bonsai horticulture in a classroom doing bonsai?
is the guy importing and selling pots doing bonsai?
personally, i am for a broad definition of bonsai. too many people think that because they can grow trees they can be artists. but the artist is not the only role in bonsai, nor the most important one.
so do you have to style hundreds of trees to be good at bonsai? It depends on your role, but it doesn’t hurt to be familiar with every aspect of bonsai
this was once an important article, though it is now quite dated it is worth a read if skill acquisition is something that interests you in general
bonsaichile
Omono
What do you mean "emigrated"? I was led to believe white people were native from this country!
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
Wow, another thinly-veiled racial slur. I fail to see a place for this anywhere, let alone on a Bonsai forum.
bonsaichile
Omono
That wasn't a racial slur, either veiled or uncovered. Just a sarcastic comment (nothing to do with @Leo in N E Illinois or his grandparents, sorry if it came across that way) regarding some disgusting turn back of civility put forth by the one currently occupying the White House and the discourse he spews.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Still; No reason whatsoever to post this on a thread on bonsai?
Similar threads
