Graham Potter Vid.

[monza]

These are always entertaining and this one is carving up a old Olive tree/stump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoJ7kQo_H2A&feature=em-uploademail


Enjoy, I don't think I saw it posted up on the site yet?

 

[monza]

Incase anyone missed a new Graham Potter video, it's on growing bonsai from seed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2gtm7vGlQ&feature=em-uploademail

 

[berobinson82]

Incase anyone missed a new Graham Potter video, it's on growing bonsai from seed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2gtm7vGlQ&feature=em-uploademail

That's the title anyways. It's actually about twisting seedlings and potting them after lifting them from the ground. Though I guess watching someone sow seeds is pretty boring.

 

[Vance Wood]

Potter's videos are very instructive and interesting. A series I would suggest everyone interested in bonsai, from a beginner to the more experienced artist, should view, looking to improve their skills and eye.

 

[Beng]

Potter's videos are very instructive and interesting. A series I would suggest everyone interested in bonsai, from a beginner to the more experienced artist, should view, looking to improve their skills and eye.

He does things with trees I would never think of doing like in his Skid bonsai video... That ones just an amazing transformation.

 

[Vance Wood]

He does things with trees I would never think of doing like in his Skid bonsai video... That ones just an amazing transformation.

I'm glad someone else has viewed this video. It kind of blows the "you need better material" argument out of the water. We just need to look at the material with better eyes.

 

[Beng]

I'm glad someone else has viewed this video. It kind of blows the "you need better material" argument out of the water. We just need to look at the material with better eyes.

Definitely true, i wonder if he does sketches or he just visualized that in his head before creating it.

 

[Vance Wood]

Definitely true, i wonder if he does sketches or he just visualized that in his head before creating it.

That's a great point. There is no doubt that a good deal of experience geared in the right direction has contributed to all of this but from watching the video, especially of the skid bonsai, it looks almost like seat of the pants.

I know he probably had some sort of idea what he was going to do before he started the work. If you notice he started with the trunk work, which is probably where it all centered to begin with, then built the branches around the trunk. This is one place where I need to work, that of developing an eye and technique for designing dead wood beyond the occasional jin and shari. I believe what he did here was to give the trunk priority in design and execution. When that was done he placed the growth around it to make this fabulous design.

The same could be said of the other Yew where the carving was much more extensive and more complicated. Of both trees, I know of few people, who given either one of them, could have come up with better results. Many people I know would not have even tried. But this is the point that I have been catching flack from certain quarters for suggesting that these things are not the result of superior material but superior artistry. Some times we can do nothing about the material but we sure can make efforts to improve our artistry, that is an acquired, and acquirable asset.

Of course there are those who do not want to spend that time and effort on their bonsai. Fine there is no rule that says you have to. But does that mean those of us who want to develop beyond where we are should not discuss these things openly?

 

[monza]

I agree 100% with your out look Vance. Great videos, I watch them all the time super inspirational for me as I have no sources for quality material locally other then yamadori.
Regarding making the best of some thing your correct to teach the right methods even though it may not be politically correct or gentle. Hand holding and praise for a bad idea is for kindergarten, thanks for your efforts to step everyone up to a higher level of education.

 

[Vance Wood]

I agree 100% with your out look Vance. Great videos, I watch them all the time super inspirational for me as I have no sources for quality material locally other then yamadori.
Regarding making the best of some thing your correct to teach the right methods even though it may not be politically correct or gentle. Hand holding and praise for a bad idea is for kindergarten, thanks for your efforts to step everyone up to a higher level of education.

Don't say that too loud LOL As to Yamadori, according to some, if you are not using Yamadori, you're not doing bonsai the right way. However if there is ever anything I can do to help, you are more than welcome to PM me, or post in the open.

The situation kind of reminds me of a story I was once told about crabs. Did you know that they keep crabs in an open top barrel before sale and don't worry about any of them escaping. The reason being when one of them tries to escape the barrel the other crabs will grab on to it and pull it back in the barrel.

I will say this again. I don't care why someone wants to do bonsai but I do care about them believing they can do as well as they want to, or as little. I just have a problem with someone languishing in mediocrity only because someone has convinced them, or taught them, they can't do better without spending bundles of money on expensive stock, or it's a waste of time if they don't. Then these same people will turn around and coach newbies how they can make a bonsai that in the end they will never be happy with.

 

[monza]

New Graham Potter video:

http://youtu.be/lCKu0lgzUOo

 

[rockm]

"The situation kind of reminds me of a story I was once told about crabs. Did you know that they keep crabs in an open top barrel before sale and don't worry about any of them escaping. The reason being when one of them tries to escape the barrel the other crabs will grab on to it and pull it back in the barrel."

Being from the Chesapeake Bay area, I might point out that those crabs are YAMADORI. The domestically farmed crabs are mostly tasteless and puny. ;-)

 

[MidMichBonsai]

One of the things that allows Graham to have the eye that he does is that he studies trees in nature; how they grow, how they die back, how they decay, how they weather, etc. This means that when he goes to carve or work something, he has a wealth of knowledge and a closet full of examples in his mind from which to draw. I think most artists don't see what he does because they've never seen it before for real. I've seen plenty of carving done on trees that looks like just that, carving done on trees. Graham's technique and experience because of regular observation give him the ability to create something that looks like it may have actually happened naturally. If you don't study nature, you can't duplicate it.

I'm going to take a walk...I need to study more...If only it weren't 35 degrees in late April!