Part I was a white-out exercise with an Ezo Spruce, asking, which branches would you cut off, if any? Thanks to all of you who offered your favorite options. It’s a complicated tree with a lot of possibility and many good options.
My students in a recent Seasonal class gave the 10 options on that first post, which I replicated as digital white-outs. Here I’ll single out one of those options to discuss in detail.
Here is the original tree without any white-out applied.
A blog reader, Joe Heller, compiled this much simpler way of comparing all options from the first post. Thanks Joe!
The low branch on the right (on 1 and 2) has been a fun curiosity branch for years. And yet from a natural history standpoint this low branch would rarely have survived into maturity. On a Ponderosa Pine you see the occasional low branch like this. Ponderosa often form open glades and thin forests where low branches can survive, having enough light. But this tree is of a denser forest type—spruce, fir, hemlock—and in those forests such branches are rarely seen. These trees tend to shed lower branches.
Below is #7, which I’ll talk about at length.
This is #7, with a few tweaks. The small bar branch opposite the key branch has been removed, and foliage was reduced to lighten areas, particularly in the middle right which held a lot of visual weight.
On an ancient tree the crown is broad and the only branches left are high and thick. This tree feels mature but not ancient, so a broadening crown gives the storyline of an aging tree.
A contradiction in crowns: skinny trees have smaller crowns, but older trees have broader crowns. The lovely tension in bunjin is that of a skinny old tree, so they can have a broader crown than is typically seen. Formal uprights with skinny trunks are the same, if old. A crown that is broader, like in this image, better represents an aging tree.
With any tree, thick trunk or thin, follow the taper of the trunk and where the two lines of the sides meet, that’s roughly where your tree should end. Using this as a guide, thicker trees with fast tapers are shorter and skinny trees with shallow tapers are taller. This Ezo Spruce is the second type, and yet #7 feels a hair short given that guideline.
But a subtle variation with the taper guideline is that of older trees, as in nature older trunks are not skinny near the top. On the original Ezo, the taper ends about where the tree ends, but that gives the sense of a younger tree. I was delighted when one student suggested this slightly shorter option as it doubles down on the older tree look.
Having a bit of space over the key branch is a good way to set it off. It doesn’t have to be as much as this, but it will enhance the flow—in this case, to the left.
By varying the length of the branches we can create interest in the branching. This prevents the Christmas tree look.
In varying the length of the branches we also get asymmetrical distribution of the foliage mass. The physical weight of the foliage allows us to create movement in a formal upright.
A few last thoughts:
- There’s a reflex to simplify our trees by cutting off branches, especially it seems in the West. But that can deny complexity and interest. Not all bonsai need to be minimalist. In Japan you often see a greater number of branches, especially in the top half of a bonsai.
- While #7 is based on how forest trees grow, what we respond to and want to bring out in our bonsai is of course subjective. It’s as personal as finding a front. Many might prefer to leave that low branch. Or to not touch anything. Or to make it more minimal. I don’t believe we have to defend our choices, but explaining them to our friends helps clarify those choices for ourselves. What is it you want to bring out in the tree? What character is embedded in it that is not yet fully seen?
- These digital thinking exercises may be a fun way to engage a study group or a club.
In Part III I’ll comment on the remaining 9 options.