Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Glad to hear it! Or I might have to come your way and save it! That would be a travesty for sure. It's glorious right now.
How to style trident maple
- Thread starter leatherback
- Start date
leatherback
The Treedeemer
But it is not a trident, is it?
leatherback
The Treedeemer
the last one, wide open root over rock is a nice example. Very much different from what normally is seen.
But your pictures do show: Most tridents have very strongly haning branches, more often seen in confifers.
Question remains whether this is their natural growth habit, or really a design choice made for this species. And if so, why.
clem
Chumono
For me it is a design choice, whatever the specie.
To highlight a big fat trunk (often seen on trident maple but also on JBP, Yew etc), to focus the trunk, it is better to make short branches (the eye doesn't go away from the trunk , contrarily with big and long branches) ->
1 -if you don't have branches on the lower part of the trunk,
-To fill an empty space,
-and/or to make a more compact design,
-and/or to make the tree look older (hanging branches happen with time),
-and/or to concentrate/focus the eye on the trunk, you design your tree with hanging branches whatever the tree species ->
2-If you have branches starting at the lower part of the trunk, then you can make the branches go up because you won't have any hole/empty space in the design ->
3- If you let big empty spaces around a big trunk, the strength of the trunk will be less visible/evident because the eye will go away from the trunk (the branches attract/catch the eye)->
If you want to make the base of the trunk more attractive, if you want to make the eye go to this trunk base, a desing with short and hanging branches will be better ->
clem
Chumono
We discuss about maples branches styling, but with pines, you can see in Nature, in the wild that the branches go up (same as deciduous), even with pines growing on mountains (with lot of snow weight on the branches) ->
So why do we always represent pine Bonsai with hanging/falling branches ?
IMO it is because the hanging branches enable to fill empty spaces and make the tree look old...
But why not a pine Bonsai with branches going upside ? It is sometimes done but it is very rare (if i remember good, MichaelS does it too on this forum).
An example in the Sakufu-ten #2 ->
So why do we always represent pine Bonsai with hanging/falling branches ?
IMO it is because the hanging branches enable to fill empty spaces and make the tree look old...
But why not a pine Bonsai with branches going upside ? It is sometimes done but it is very rare (if i remember good, MichaelS does it too on this forum).
An example in the Sakufu-ten #2 ->
leatherback
The Treedeemer
thank you!
never seen it in this light, but even the quick mockup you did highlights the point.
clem
Chumono
Another pine with branches going up (it's a Ryan Neil's tree with the potter jan Culek on the pic, who's wife made the beautifull slab ->
And a natural looking trident maple forest (from a Sakufu-ten expo)->
And a natural looking trident maple forest (from a Sakufu-ten expo)->
clem
Chumono
A last tip, if you want to highlight/focus/attract the eye on a focal point, you developp foliage (a branch and, if possible, even better, the crown) above this focal point, letting an empty space between the branch and the focal point (red arrow) ->
Ruben Bouwmeester
Chumono
Clem, the picture above shows an oak tree, or the lower portion of an oak, that shows how deciduous branches “hang”.
clem
Chumono
yes, sometimes some pines have falling branches, like those ->
But in my experience with scott pine, most of the time, scott pine branches are horizontal or going up (at least at the beginning because with the snow and their own weight, the branch bend down) ->
I really love this style of Bonsai literati pine, with falling branches but i have never seen the same in Nature, with such falling branches. If i find the same pine in the wild, i'll admire it and take a pic ->
Maybe the JWP have more this look with falling branches ? Dunno.. but here's a pic of a JWP with falling branches, from the book of ABE Kurakichi "pine in Bonsai" ->
But in my experience with scott pine, most of the time, scott pine branches are horizontal or going up (at least at the beginning because with the snow and their own weight, the branch bend down) ->
I really love this style of Bonsai literati pine, with falling branches but i have never seen the same in Nature, with such falling branches. If i find the same pine in the wild, i'll admire it and take a pic ->
Maybe the JWP have more this look with falling branches ? Dunno.. but here's a pic of a JWP with falling branches, from the book of ABE Kurakichi "pine in Bonsai" ->
clem
Chumono
This oak (without leaves) looks like the typical scott pine silhouette : https://www.rustica.fr/arbres-et-arbustes/pin-sylvestre-pinus-sylvestris,8420.html
GreatLakesBrad
Chumono
Big ole oak at a golf course nearby. Of course it’s out in the open on its own... loving this discussion.
Is that a drawing?
JoeR
Masterpiece
That literati pine you posted is identical to the majority of long leaf pines that grow in my area, which is why it's one of my favorite trees. Kill to have that one on my benches.
clem
Chumono
yes
So, you’re using a drawing of a tree to document how trees look in nature?
I mean... it may be an accurate drawing of an actual tree. Or it may be a total fabrication.
clem
Chumono
Here are other drawings, but there are so many shapes of scott pines in the wild that it is impossible to represent the specie with just one drawing or one pic
Wilson
Masterpiece
Ruben Bouwmeester
Chumono
Look Jelle, I will explain it 1 time and then really 1 time. It is just like the song by the world-famous artist Gerard Joling in the Netherlands with it's Christmas on the dance floor. So he says that and that does not mean that it is Christmas on all dance floors.
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