Hobbyist, Technician or Artist ?

[Dav4]

Geez, what kind of high school did you go to? We went to 6 Flags.

Boston College High School, a Jesuit run school in Boston... early 80's. Part of French class. We had to fund raise and pay our own way by selling candy bars... lots and lots of candy bars. It may have cost $400-$500 for everything back then. I sold over 300 $1 candy bars, I think. The rest was saved allowance.

 

[Adair M]

I can and have consumed those as well, and am likely to do so in the future... the first beer I ever bought was Heineken when I was in Paris with my Sophomore high school class. I just won't be buying them in a bar if a decent IPA is available

Good choice. French beer is awful!

 

[AZbonsai]

Hobbyist for me. One in a long line. I like to learn new things. I never really master the hobbies that I start before moving on to something else. I think bonsai has been a good hobby for me. It has allowed me to use some of the things I have learned in my previous hobbies.

 

[Anthony]

Choo choo, chuggah chuggah ---------- crash ----- Lordie lord me train is derailed

 

[Tentakelaertje]

I can and have consumed those as well, and am likely to do so in the future... the first beer I ever bought was Heineken when I was in Paris with my Sophomore high school class. I just won't be buying them in a bar if a decent IPA is available

You went to Paris and bought Heineken? Haha. Can't blame you tho, Adair is completely right!

 

[Adair M]

You went to Paris and bought Heineken? Haha. Can't blame you tho, Adair is completely right!

For what it’s worth, Heineken tastes different in Europe than it does here. That boat ride doesn’t help it. It may be they have to add preservatives, I don’t know. At the brewery, it’s amazing! So is Tuborg!

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I'll drink anything with alcohol anytime of the day, and I love bonsai! There! I said it, finally.

 

[Adair M]

Choo choo, chuggah chuggah ---------- crash ----- Lordie lord me train is derailed

Anthony, you can’t expect us to keep discussing “is bonsai art” forever. There’s zillions of threads on that already. And really, nobody cares. And if they do, nobody is going to change their mind! What’s more, virtually no one plants a seed and then draws a picture of what they want it to look like in 5 or 10 years! No, most people take an existing tree and make it smaller. And once it has grown back out, they keep it small. In this way, they can get great trunks. Remember what I said about trunks? The soul of the tree? You couldn’t get a trunk like this one if you planted a seed the day you were born:



And it’s only 12 inches tall above the rim of the pot!

 

[Anthony]

@Adair M ,

Sifu,

If the Juniper grew here, we could.
If the Buttonwood had finer leaves, it could do the above.

The effect is easy to achieve, if we had natives, that naturally featured
exposed wood. Termites and very little landscape with harsh elements.

You should examine the image of the Gmelina and the Design I
have left on this site. It is an example of a drawing controlling .
the plant.
I left it as an example for others to see what happens after years
of growing.

Bonsai has evolved.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[music~maker]

These are fun topics. Maybe bonsai is a hobby pursued by technicians seeking to produce works of art. That way we don't miss out on anything.

The changing is one of the best parts. The trees want to do things differently than our desires. So we chastise with shears and pruners and oft-flawed vision.

For me, bonsai is definitely a lifestyle choice. I guess I could consider it a hobby in that it isn't something I do to make money, but I have a sufficiently large number of trees that it's a significant part of my life at this point. And I work from home, so I can go out and tend to them, study them, or merely enjoy them whenever I feel like it. And at this point, I don't envision a scenario where I ever stop unless I'm somehow forced to. So it's kind of crossed past the "hobby" threshold for me ...

But I do consider the choices that I make with my trees to be artistic ones. As I work on my trees, the goal is always to improve the tree over time towards making the best, most realistic miniature tree that I can. And I definitely take a blended approach to how I do this. I sometimes start with established stock and work it into pre-bonsai stock, and I also start with very young material and grow it up into something that I can then work into pre-bonsai stock. So there are absolutely technical elements to both these things, but from my point of view, the choices I make along the way about what I prune, what I don't prune, what I wire, etc, are all artistic choices that impact the long-term vision for the tree, imho.

So, I think that's a long way of saying that I am one of those technicians striving to do art. Now, whether it's good art or not, that remains to be seen. But it is most definitely my long-term intention to create art here.

I definitely didn't start out with this mindset. When I started, it really was a hobby, and was just something I tinkered with. But at some point, right around when I bought my house, I decided that I wanted to understand how bonsai were created from scratch. In particular, I wanted to learn how to create trunks and really develop material from early stages. That was a little over 12 years ago. So the real rat-hole started there. That deep dive on trunks sucked me into a much deeper level, and I don't think there's any coming back from that. =)

At this point, I'm pretty sure that I have trees that will outlast me, and I suspect at least a few of them have a chance of eventually turning into something resembling decent art.

 

[Tentakelaertje]

For what it’s worth, Heineken tastes different in Europe than it does here. That boat ride doesn’t help it. It may be they have to add preservatives, I don’t know. At the brewery, it’s amazing! So is Tuborg!

It's the bottles. There's some photochemical reaction inside the bottle because of the green shade. Heineken from a can tastes differently too. Never been to the brewery -or any brewery fwiw- but it might very well taste better over there yeah.
Maybe there's a higher sugar level in the US beer? Because everything's sweeter at your side of the pond?
Never heard of tuborg tho, what's that?

 

[Tentakelaertje]

I'll drink anything with alcohol anytime of the day, and I love bonsai! There! I said it, finally.

Whereas regular peeps have alcohol in their blood you got blood in your alcohol, right?!

 

[Wilson]

I just like trees, and if they are little I can have more of em! Add nice weather, a stout, or red ale, brown ale, pale ale, and you got a great way to spend the day!

 

[milehigh_7]

Anthony, you can’t expect us to keep discussing “is bonsai art” forever. There’s zillions of threads on that already. And really, nobody cares. And if they do, nobody is going to change their mind! What’s more, virtually no one plants a seed and then draws a picture of what they want it to look like in 5 or 10 years! No, most people take an existing tree and make it smaller. And once it has grown back out, they keep it small. In this way, they can get great trunks. Remember what I said about trunks? The soul of the tree? You couldn’t get a trunk like this one if you planted a seed the day you were born:



And it’s only 12 inches tall above the rim of the pot!

Post of the day... Adair drops his keyboard and goes to find something to wire...

 

[Dav4]

For what it’s worth, Heineken tastes different in Europe than it does here. That boat ride doesn’t help it. It may be they have to add preservatives, I don’t know. At the brewery, it’s amazing! So is Tuborg!

It was the skunkiest 2 beers I've ever had.

 

[0soyoung]

Heinekin = Budwiser.

Neither of these do much define the art of brewing (or the art of bonsai) fortunately.

 

[Eric Group]

Ouch IPA. I'm a Belgium and German beer guy myself.

A beer snob AND a contrarian? You must be loads of fun!
LOL

 

[Adair M]

@Adair M ,

Sifu,

If the Juniper grew here, we could.
If the Buttonwood had finer leaves, it could do the above.

The effect is easy to achieve, if we had natives, that naturally featured
exposed wood. Termites and very little landscape with harsh elements.

You should examine the image of the Gmelina and the Design I
have left on this site. It is an example of a drawing controlling .
the plant.
I left it as an example for others to see what happens after years
of growing.

Bonsai has evolved.
Good Day
Anthony

Anthony, buttonwood is often used for bonsai. Yes, it’s got great deadwood. Since it’s tropical, I would think it would be a great subject for you.

 

[Adair M]

It's the bottles. There's some photochemical reaction inside the bottle because of the green shade. Heineken from a can tastes differently too. Never been to the brewery -or any brewery fwiw- but it might very well taste better over there yeah.
Maybe there's a higher sugar level in the US beer? Because everything's sweeter at your side of the pond?
Never heard of tuborg tho, what's that?

Tuborg is another Danish beer. It was popular when I was in college. It started off as an import, then they opened a brewery in the US. Then it just disappeared.

In Denmark, they sell two varieties: Tuborg and Tuborg Export. Supposedly, the Tuborg was for primarily Danish consumption. The “Export” had a higher alcohol content, which they said was necessary for the beer to survive the shipping overseas. I don’t know if that was entirely true... the Tuborg I drank in college was regular strength. The Export I drank in Denmark did have more alcohol.

 

[MichaelS]

A hobbyist, a technician, and an artist walk into a bar......

Sorce

The artist says ''Just look at the smooth lines of this beautiful glass'' The technician says '' Crap! the base is all wrong and it doesn't sit properly'' The hobbyist says, ''when I come back from the Jon I'm sitting over there''