There's a lot to deal with here. Let's start with the fact that anyone who has the temerity to question you, the Master Of All Art, is isolated and doesn't go to shows. You assume. Or, maybe we're just stupid and uneducated, or both! Or, all three. A really short sighted insult to the rest of the world. I don't understand why your words don't come through printed in red on my screen. You've explained your position quiet a few times now with pictures of Pines and still haven't addressed the question first asked, "Blah, blah, rule or guideline?
At the risk of giving you a stroke, Pines, -lovely as they are, are not the only trees in the world. If fact, you may have surmised that some of us have very few Pines. I think what was wanted by the originator of this thread was an in-depth discussion of how to deal with trees that refused to fit the mould, or were of a design that begged to break the rules, for example, Literati-like irregular, but full, deciduous trees (not two-dimensional Pines). They abound. And, artsy-types are drawn to interesting forms and textures and break-the-mould challenging shapes they can call their own. There are also trees with real leaves that are of more ordinary composition that are not picture-perfect. In fact, I remember a judge (of course the only real judge I ever saw up here in back-woods Detroit) gig a perfect Boxwood because he, "...never saw a tree with a perfect dome like that in nature." Some of us morons think we can create an appealing form in many different shapes and sizes and trees, -not Pines. I may puke on the next Pine I see.
I shouldn't say that, I love Pines, too. But I don't love people who find it necessary to insult people as way to convince them of something. I can't remember when that ever worked. Can you? Am I convincing you now? I do remember someone once saying under his breath, right after he had been up-braided by a third party who had just walked away, "You have silenced me, but you have not convinced me."
I think it very interesting that you find it necessary to shut people up on a forum. Study those words. They are mixed-metaphors when used in the same sentence.
I've been in bonsai for 20 years, and have only taken photos of the sides of trees once, for purposes different than here. It hadn't occurred to me to do so. You have quiet an arsenal. Should I wonder how many times you've stumbled upon fools like me and the others, here? You must teach the art! Do you carry a whip?
I haven't asked why the trees in your examples, or shows the world over, etc., lean forward, so your really complete answer to your own miss-stated question must have been sparked by miss-reading my saying more than once your example trees were very nice looking, so I'll say it again.
I also never said or indicated anything like, "You haven’t supported your position with trees that lean backwards with anything other than words." (I'm not even sure I know what that means).
I don't think us dummies ever got to the point of showing trees to be considered, maybe because we got hog-tied into thinking that only Pines were considered trees. Given the number of different views apparently necessary for consideration, I don't think I'd be able produce any until the snow is replaced by suitable weather. So, there. You've shut me up.
