Nancy Violeta Velez
Bonsai in texture
337/365 Work with textures
I took the original image @ "The Morikami ~ Museum and Japanese Garden"
Delray Beach, Florida, USA.
With my husband Cellular's phone: Samsung SGH-T929
July 25th/2009
..........................................................................................................................................................................
(Wikipedia)
Ars longa, vita brevis are the first two lines of a Latin translation of an aphorism by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. The words are commonly translated in English as art is long, life is short. The full text in Latin is:
Ars longa,
vita brevis,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.
The full text is often rendered in English as:
[The] art is long,
life is short,
opportunity fleeting,
experiment dangerous,
judgment difficult.
.........................................................................................................................................................
The Wisdom of Khan Komai
Bonsai is an artistic, symbolic recreation of nature and not a replica of it. It is more an abstraction of nature.
A bonsai develops from a combination of what you feel about the tree and how the tree behaves. There is no actual conflict between the natural element of chance and the human element of control, but there is a constant compromise.
It is the plant - the roots and trunk, the branches, the twigs and the leaves - as much the trunk and branches, the how a bonsai will develop. Too many new students feel that they have created a bonsai, and often it will be years before they realize that their effort is only a small contribution to the plant and the bonsai that results.
Trees have their own personalities and cannot be expected to behave the same as another tree of the same species, or even of the same variety. Every pine does not behave like every other pine; every black pine cannot be expected to develop the same as another black pine. And, it would be a mistake for you to treat every pine alike.
On the other hand, your feeling about every black pine will not be the same. The development of the plant is a result of what you feel and what nature offers. It is a compromise between nature's random growth and the control you exercise to that growth.
The ultimate goal in shaping a bonsai is an elusive, ethereal thing rather than an inflexible blueprint of future development. It is a changing, growing thing that you guide from year to year with no real completion time or end. The enjoyment of bonsai is giving some control to nature's seemingly purposeless growth.
And, there really should be no final goal for the development of your bonsai, for, if you were to achieve it, there would be nothing to strive for, and for the bonsai student, striving is the goal. There is a proverb that says to travel well is better than to arrive.
In our journey, then, how do we know when we have arrived? You frequently hear that bonsai improves with time. It may be true in a large measure, but is it always true, and for how long? A tree ages, the trunk grows heavier with the passing of time, but does that mean that the bonsai has improved? There is a time in the bonsai's existence that the girth of the trunk, the spread of the branches, the mass of the foliage is in just the right proportion. This may be said to be the moment that the tree has reached its zenith. But, the branches lengthen and the foliage continues the thicken, so the branches are shortened and the foliage thinned, but it is not the same as it once was. So we try again, but the results, while pleasing, are not the same.
We find that there will be several peaks for each bonsai every season - a greater peak at intervals during the passing years. But, each peak it attains is not the same, there are subtle differences, and who is to say which peak is the zenith? Different people find different things more or less pleasing. As bonsai students, even if your tastes differ from others, you should develop the power to discern what is fit, what has order, and what constitutes excellence. Then live by compromising with nature and don't be disturbed if nature has a greater say than you. The Zen in bonsai as an art is in the doing, rather than the accomplishment
..........................................................................................................................................................................
I used two textures from Jerry Jones: OldFind1 and OldPaper8, you can find those fine textures on his blog: Shadowhouse Creations Thank you very much !!
.../
Bonsai in texture
337/365 Work with textures
I took the original image @ "The Morikami ~ Museum and Japanese Garden"
Delray Beach, Florida, USA.
With my husband Cellular's phone: Samsung SGH-T929
July 25th/2009
..........................................................................................................................................................................
(Wikipedia)
Ars longa, vita brevis are the first two lines of a Latin translation of an aphorism by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. The words are commonly translated in English as art is long, life is short. The full text in Latin is:
Ars longa,
vita brevis,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.
The full text is often rendered in English as:
[The] art is long,
life is short,
opportunity fleeting,
experiment dangerous,
judgment difficult.
.........................................................................................................................................................
The Wisdom of Khan Komai
Bonsai is an artistic, symbolic recreation of nature and not a replica of it. It is more an abstraction of nature.
A bonsai develops from a combination of what you feel about the tree and how the tree behaves. There is no actual conflict between the natural element of chance and the human element of control, but there is a constant compromise.
It is the plant - the roots and trunk, the branches, the twigs and the leaves - as much the trunk and branches, the how a bonsai will develop. Too many new students feel that they have created a bonsai, and often it will be years before they realize that their effort is only a small contribution to the plant and the bonsai that results.
Trees have their own personalities and cannot be expected to behave the same as another tree of the same species, or even of the same variety. Every pine does not behave like every other pine; every black pine cannot be expected to develop the same as another black pine. And, it would be a mistake for you to treat every pine alike.
On the other hand, your feeling about every black pine will not be the same. The development of the plant is a result of what you feel and what nature offers. It is a compromise between nature's random growth and the control you exercise to that growth.
The ultimate goal in shaping a bonsai is an elusive, ethereal thing rather than an inflexible blueprint of future development. It is a changing, growing thing that you guide from year to year with no real completion time or end. The enjoyment of bonsai is giving some control to nature's seemingly purposeless growth.
And, there really should be no final goal for the development of your bonsai, for, if you were to achieve it, there would be nothing to strive for, and for the bonsai student, striving is the goal. There is a proverb that says to travel well is better than to arrive.
In our journey, then, how do we know when we have arrived? You frequently hear that bonsai improves with time. It may be true in a large measure, but is it always true, and for how long? A tree ages, the trunk grows heavier with the passing of time, but does that mean that the bonsai has improved? There is a time in the bonsai's existence that the girth of the trunk, the spread of the branches, the mass of the foliage is in just the right proportion. This may be said to be the moment that the tree has reached its zenith. But, the branches lengthen and the foliage continues the thicken, so the branches are shortened and the foliage thinned, but it is not the same as it once was. So we try again, but the results, while pleasing, are not the same.
We find that there will be several peaks for each bonsai every season - a greater peak at intervals during the passing years. But, each peak it attains is not the same, there are subtle differences, and who is to say which peak is the zenith? Different people find different things more or less pleasing. As bonsai students, even if your tastes differ from others, you should develop the power to discern what is fit, what has order, and what constitutes excellence. Then live by compromising with nature and don't be disturbed if nature has a greater say than you. The Zen in bonsai as an art is in the doing, rather than the accomplishment
..........................................................................................................................................................................
I used two textures from Jerry Jones: OldFind1 and OldPaper8, you can find those fine textures on his blog: Shadowhouse Creations Thank you very much !!
.../