Windswept Kishu Shimpaku

[justBonsai]

Hello Nutters,

I recently did a major styling on a kishu shimpaku I received from @bonsaibp at the recent bonsai-a-thon. I have more pictures in my blog post and go in-depth about my thought process and how I styled the tree. I am open to any suggestions and comments, but I hope they're not too negative. Please check out my post and if you enjoyed it you can return the favor by subscribing

I had lots of fun styling this one and personally I am satisfied with the result.
https://bontsai.com/category/trees/coniferous/windswept-kishu-shimpaku/

Julian

Here are shots of the tree.

Before:


After:


Future??

 

[Tieball]

Well done! Excellent choice of direction. Nice courageous pruning and bending.

I have one spot that I found interruptive though. However, I'd say I'm not sure exactly what I would do with it though. The design is sweeping well...but my eye is caught with that one deadwood branch leading straight up....perhaps in person where the tree is seen 3D maybe that branch doesn't stick out or up so much. It just seems to struggle with a fit to my eyes...like a little to dominant. Maybe it's just that particular view. I feel like if the pot base was spun a little more clockwise, moving the left pot side further back, that it would fit...but that's better judged in person.

I like the direction of the crescent shaped pot. The tree would also look good if that pot were designed upside down....like the crest of a rocky point...like a jagged slab....if that even makes sense. Seems to in my head.

These trees bud back a lot....right?

 

[Adair M]

Hello Nutters,

I recently did a major styling on a kishu shimpaku I received from @bonsaibp at the recent bonsai-a-thon. I have more pictures in my blog post and go in-depth about my thought process and how I styled the tree. I am open to any suggestions and comments, but I hope they're not too negative. Please check out my post and if you enjoyed it you can return the favor by subscribing

I had lots of fun styling this one and personally I am satisfied with the result.
https://bontsai.com/category/trees/coniferous/windswept-kishu-shimpaku/

Julian

Here are shots of the tree.

Before:
View attachment 136226

After:
View attachment 136225

Future??

View attachment 136224

Windswept is a very difficult image to create. You've done a very nice job as a first styling.

The issue I see is your branches are all positioned downwards. The most effective windswepts have the branches all going with the wind, but then the ends of the branches lift slightly up. As if the wind were trying to pick the tree up and carry it away!

Google "windswept bonsai" then click "images" and scroll thru the pictures. There are some good ones and bad ones. Try to figure out why the good ones are good, and why the bad ones are bad.

And then apply what you've learned to your own tree.

 

[sorce]

Nice!

I'm with Tieball on the top jin...
I couldn't stop seeing it...
Maybe just bend it over with the wind, it may make a nice frame for your apex.

I just tried to do my BRJ in a similar fashion.....


Pretty much all the foliage was going in one direction already...
So I was thinking it could be convincing.

Turns out I'm not a big fan of the rounded top branch and even with material almost destined for windswept, it is still very hard to pull off.

Either way I think both these trees can have a future of a better windswept, or something different.

Don't they have a wind chamber at the lab? Hehehe!

Going to read the Blog.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

I like the way you think!

One thing I disagree with, mostly based on the couple of windswepts I found convincing (i think both at Noelanders).

The leggy branches....
I think leggy branches make these more convincing because the wind is going to strip the foilage off to the tips.

Good stuff!

Sorce

 

[justBonsai]

Well done! Excellent choice of direction. Nice courageous pruning and bending.

I have one spot that I found interruptive though. However, I'd say I'm not sure exactly what I would do with it though. The design is sweeping well...but my eye is caught with that one deadwood branch leading straight up....perhaps in person where the tree is seen 3D maybe that branch doesn't stick out or up so much. It just seems to struggle with a fit to my eyes...like a little to dominant. Maybe it's just that particular view. I feel like if the pot base was spun a little more clockwise, moving the left pot side further back, that it would fit...but that's better judged in person.

I like the direction of the crescent shaped pot. The tree would also look good if that pot were designed upside down....like the crest of a rocky point...like a jagged slab....if that even makes sense. Seems to in my head.

These trees bud back a lot....right?

I like your idea for the pot. As for the top jin perhaps straight up does not match with the foliage too well. I can look into repositioning it in the future.

Windswept is a very difficult image to create. You've done a very nice job as a first styling.

The issue I see is your branches are all positioned downwards. The most effective windswepts have the branches all going with the wind, but then the ends of the branches lift slightly up. As if the wind were trying to pick the tree up and carry it away!

Google "windswept bonsai" then click "images" and scroll thru the pictures. There are some good ones and bad ones. Try to figure out why the good ones are good, and why the bad ones are bad.

And then apply what you've learned to your own tree.

I looked at many images of windswept trees prior to styling as inspiration. I will see if I can incorporate your suggestion into the design.

I like the way you think!

One thing I disagree with, mostly based on the couple of windswepts I found convincing (i think both at Noelanders).

The leggy branches....
I think leggy branches make these more convincing because the wind is going to strip the foilage off to the tips.

Good stuff!

Sorce

Thanks sorce! I ended up doing windswept to utilize the leggy branches. I do hope in the future it can become more refined and convincing as a windswept.

 

[Wilson]

Good start dude! Living where I do, windswept is a favorite image of mine.

 

[sorce]

Man....

I just googled "windswept bonsai"...

Got a few new thoughts.....

First. . small?



Guess not!


Wow!

More importantly....

I think it's easiest to portray a constant wind....

While possible to have seasonal, or even complete climate change "New winds" effect a tree, I think it is impossible to convey them in a Bonsai....
Which is why any movement in the other direction doesn't work.
Add our human brains can't fathom time beyond our own 100 years, and we will never see "climate change" winds in a Bonsai, it'll always looked contrived.

Also...
Most of the trees I found have perfectly good structures to make a much better tree in a different form.
This at 5%, would have me scrapping the windswept idea.

I think both our trees fall into that category.

Lastly, in my, "it all starts at the base" thinking....the beginning....

How the hell would a seed get a start on the top of a rock in the wind?
I guess arguments could be made...

But this...

Doesn't make much sense to me at all.

More...there is a dope ROR there...
And this one has 95% capability of being something else...

Not that it's toooooo windswept to begin with....and it is raw as hell.....

But....

Sorce

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I've always enjoyed this one - though it isn't bonsai But it is the only display I have seen where someone ground their pot!



I agree with the comments about the top jin in the OP's tree. It moves against the direction of the design.

 

[sorce]

where someone ground their pot!

Awesome!

I brought that up before in a "pot that melts into a slab".....

Good to see it!

Love it!

Sorce

 

[Adair M]

One more thought...

It's very hard to make conifers into convincing windswepts because of the foliage tips that grow the "wrong way".

The best windswept are deciduous, and only then in the winter when there are no leaves.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I had a ...sorta... one.

Had to sell it when wife died in 2009. Too many to take care of.

 

[Tieball]

Windswept is difficult to carry out...create...but I think fun to work on because there is such a clear emotion given back by the tree. A lot of trees look fabulous and sit still......the windswept brings emotional imagination to the surface.

Windswept is perhaps difficult to create with a Shimpaku family tree due to the foliage growth...upward and in clumps. I think Shimpaku looks more like clip hanging for survival with the gnarled branches giving the emotion to the movement....the stresses of wind and lack of water.

I had a Eastern Cedar Tree I put in the ground to grow and planted it at a severe angle so the foliage would grow "up"......and when the tree is set upright more, and some of the opposite planting angle, the natural growth looks windswept. I've set other trees crooked also just to get the natural spirit of growth in a non-forced direction. Just fun things to do to occupy my imagination.

 

[Tieball]

Cool....pasted this photo from earlier in this thread....she has the Force. Powerful woman.

 

[CasAH]

As others have said, the Jin is throwing off the flow of your windswept tree. I think if you are able to bend the Jin to fit the flow of your tree it will be a great start.

 

[justBonsai]

It seems the verdict has been made. I can either
1) Bend the jin to follow the branching
2) Cut it off
3) Shorten it significantly

Cast your vote!

 

[Tieball]

I'd cut it off completely....no stub left visible to the photo view.....however in person there would be a jagged edge where nature broke the top off after the deadwood broke away. My thought.

 

[sorce]

Had to sell it

And Winds Wept.

Sorry to hear that Mike.

But It's nice to imagine the lives you must have shared!

If I was a woman...

I wouldn't mind growing old with your crazy Ass!

Love!

Sorce

 

[A Random User]

It is possible to actually have a windswept tree that isn't all contorted and bent over...
You know... one that doesn't actually take it to the extreme? I mean... are there not trees
that perhaps portray a sense of the range between slightly Windswept... and well... Falling Over?









My own Personal View???
Next Time, just don't actually tell people it is a Windswept... This way you can design it as you see fit.
And you will not have to have arguments over whether or not someone thinks it is Windswept enough.

The deadwood top does not bother me...
I do not think it has to be necessarily bent over to play the part. And in fact... I actually like that it does not.
If any change was to be made, I would actually suggest one bend it in the opposite direction, slightly To the right.
So as to not necessarily be straight. Your tree has angles... this section does not. Bending it to either side, adds an angle.
Bending it to the right adds interest.

What bothers me... is the Terrible Virtual. Sorry, not trying to be mean... But it and the concept of the pot, totally change the
whole feel of the tree. The picture right above almost looks like a totally different tree, and a much nicer tree. It took me a moment to
figure out what makes it look not so good... and it is the negative spacing between the bottom branch and the trunk. In the virt it has tons...
in the picture above it has none. I would opt for the none... the pot sticking up, almost feels like a large rock or boulder that the tree is just
slightly hovering over. Just my buck fifty.

 

[justBonsai]

It is possible to actually have a windswept tree that isn't all contorted and bent over...
You know... one that doesn't actually take it to the extreme?

View attachment 136454




View attachment 136455


My own Personal View???
Next Time, just don't actually tell people it is a Windswept... This way you can design it as you see fit.
And you will not have to have arguments over whether or not someone thinks it is Windswept enough , for them.

The deadwood top does not bother me...
I do not think it has to be necessarily bent over to play the part. And in fact... I actually like that it does not.
If any change was to be made, I would actually suggest one bend it in the opposite direction, slightly To the right.
So as to not necessarily be straight. Your tree has angles... this section does not. Bending it to either side, adds an angle.
Bending it to the right adds interest.

What bothers me... is the Terrible Virtual. Sorry, not trying to be mean... But it and the concept of the pot, totally change the
whole feel of the tree. The picture right above almost looks like a totally different tree, and a much nicer tree. It took me a moment to
figure out what makes it look not so good... and it is the negative spacing between the bottom branch and the trunk. In the virt it has tons...
in the picture above it has none. I would opt for the none... the pot sticking up, almost feels like a large rock or boulder that the tree is just
slightly hovering over. Just my buck fifty.

No offense taken. I was just messing around on MS paint to see how it'd look. The idea of the tree is to have it feel like its hovering over a cliff or large rock. I will be searching for a pot in the future to emulate that feeling.