edited by Jiří Vysloužil
5.7.2007
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my thanks to the following groups and individuals:
To my bonsai teachers, Nick Lenz and Kenji Miyata, for their uncompromising standards, excellent
examples, ongoing guidance and indulgence - and the occasional beer.
To my friends in the Bonsai Society of Dallas for their continuous efforts at furthering bonsai
education and enthusiasm - since the mid 1960's. I am fortunate to be a come-lately member of your
community.
To Wayne Schoech at Stone Lantern Publishing who has given all kinds of support and indulgence
to me and to this project.
To my many friends around the world who lent their assistance to this project with their
photographs, including Carl Bergstrom, Klaus Buddig, Kurt Gagel, Boon Manakitivipart, Elize-Marie
Mann, Mike Martino, Wolfgang Putz, John Romano, Howard and Sylvia Smith and Suthin Sukosolvisit.
To the administrators and members of two of the most valuable resources and healthiest
communities for bonsai on the web - The Internet Bonsai Club and the BonsaiTalk forum.
Special thanks to Carl Bergstrom, Chris Cochrane, Nick Lenz, Jerry Meislik and Walter Pall, who
took the time to read drafts of this project and then share their advice and insights.
Those listed above did what they could; responsibility for any mistakes or inaccuracies in this text
is mine alone.
Andy Rutledge
Foreword
In the innumerable workshops I teach, I use two words to describe bonsai material I am stuck with.
The first is ugly. This describes a piece of material that is beyond hope. Usually it is a stick with bad
swirl-around roots, an inverse taper and at least one goiterous bulge of multiple branches. In this
case, I usually pronounce the word with sympathy, despite the expectation from the student that I
can turn it into a superior bonsai by black or white magic.
The second word is ugly. This is delivered with great excitement and usually describes a collected
plant of incredible convolution, interest and suitability to bonsai culture, which I duly point out with
enthusiasm.
Ugly and ugly, describing opposite poles.
In a one to one situation, with a real tree, the aesthetics of a piece of material can be
demonstrated in hopes that the student will either begin a rewarding developmental process or feed
the damn thing to his pet moose. I would never dare write about bonsai aesthetics, as I think it can
not be done, nor would I attempt to lecture on it anymore. It is too esoteric a topic to be
comprehended by weekend hobbyists.
I remember too well the awkward early days of bonsai in this country. When I would ask one of
the presiding bonsai matron judges why the 1-2-3 rule was necessary, I would be answered:
“Because that is the way we do it”. Oh.
When I asked another why deciduous trees were planted in gaudy blue pots, I was answered:
“Because it is appropriate.” Oh.
Well, this means that good bonsai design is either indescribable or that the matrons in question
had no clue other than what appeared in their book of rules.
Surprise, folks, Rutledge knows. In a short book, Andy takes on the impossibly formidable topic of
bonsai aesthetics and carries it to a level not yet achieved in print. He does this with comprehensive
understanding, wit, and excitement. This is not a PhD dissertation, but an easy read. Many
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photographs illustrate the design wisdom of the ages. It is not just a “must read” but a “must read
again and study” endeavor.
I do remember the first drafts a year or so ago and found them incomplete. Rethinking and more
real experience with bonsai has matured this publication into a near gem, even if e-critics will
probably exchange e-snide-sides that someone bothered at all. They tend to do this in lieu of
creating artistic and highly refined bonsai.
This is an excellent writing that would make me proud of my best bonsai student, if I weren’t a
damn Methodist.
Read it and learn what you have been missing all these years. I did and did.
Nick Lenz
November, 2003
Preface
Art = Communication
Why do you consider certain works of art to be beautiful or evocative and others to be dull and
uninspiring? Why is it that one piece of music can be soothing and pleasant to hear and another may
seem chaotic and unsettling to listen to? Why is it that when you look at some paintings, you are
drawn to one particular part of it or you immediately grasp the artist’s message? How can a piece of
music evoke happiness or sadness? Why does anyone find beauty or meaning in any work of art?
What gives art this power over the human psyche?
The answers lie largely in what sorts of elements the artists
uses in his/her work and how the artist composes these various
elements that constitute a work of art. This composition
determines how the elements relate to each other and how the
work communicates with the viewer. Arts, like painting, bonsai
and music, follow certain useful conventions, whether visual or
aural, for using line, form, color, space and texture (or similar
metaphoric elements), all in specific arrangements with varying
levels of balance, harmony, precariousness and tension to
convey meaning.
We habitually respond to these commonly recognized
conventions and perceive beauty or meaning in them. We see or
hear the drama, the sadness, the emphasis, the activity or inertia
that the artist expresses. We may even respond with the
emotion that he asks of us.
In other words, art is communication. The artist speaks to us
and if we grasp his message, we respond to the artist’s message
with our understanding, interest or emotion. If, however, the
artist does not use a language that we are familiar with, we are
unable to “hear” the artist’s voice, we do not grasp his message
and we find the work dull, uninspiring or not artistic at all. In this case, it may be that we simply lack
the relevant understanding. Perhaps it may be that the artist is not skilled at communication and has
not produced meaningful work. After all, communication requires understanding on the part of both
the speaker and the listener.
The grammar and vocabulary of this language of art is found largely in the fundamental artistic
conventions for using line, form, color, space, balance and texture. The syntax of this language of
artistry is found in how these elements are composed and how they relate to cultural context(s) to
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convey meaning or beauty to the viewer. These conventions are what some characterize as the
“rules” of art.
The language of art is no different from any other language in that the rules of its grammar and
syntax do not fully define it. Moreover, most of the rules of language have exceptions and creative
modes of communication exist that make little or no reference to rules. Every language is lent
nuance and style and character by the way that each individual uses it. For every grammatical rule,
for every syntax convention there are exceptions; there must be exceptions! Far from being rigid,
both language and art are fluid and malleable to some degree.
However, no language succeeds without structure. The fundamentals of communication are
always relevant and always necessary as reference points. Without the fundamentals, without some
kind of basic reference, communication is impossible; be it verbal, written, musical, physical or
artistic communication.
Bonsai art is no different than painting or architecture or music in this regard. The art of bonsai
uses the relevant media – the trunk, branches and foliage of the tree, the pot, the stand, the soil
surface elements and some companion elements of display …all to tell a story. In bonsai art, as in any
other art, certain useful conventions can be employed to convey meaning. Some arrangements of
these physical elements of bonsai art can communicate beauty or turmoil …and some arrangements
are not at all effective for doing so.
If we can learn to recognize these useful conventions of styling and composition and become
familiar with how they can be employed to convey meaning, we improve our chances for making
meaningful bonsai art. This book will be an attempt to demystify this language so that you, the
budding bonsai artist, can improve your artistic communication skills and make beautiful, evocative,
meaningful bonsai.
Caveats
What this book is not
This book is neither a care manual nor a technical how-to book. The text will not explain how to
wire bonsai trees, how to transplant, how to prune, how to create ramification nor how to keep your
bonsai safe over the winter or during the summer. This book will not discuss species care or climate
considerations for bonsai. It is concerned with artistry and design principles only.
Further, this book is not best suited to the enthusiast who is just starting to learn about growing
and styling bonsai. The concepts presented in this book expound on basic bonsai styling conventions
and are not meant to replace them or introduce them to the neophyte. There is no substitute for a
proper foundation in bonsai fundamentals and this book does not offer such a foundation, but rather
builds upon it.
Do not take this book as “The New Dogma” for bonsai design – or even the old dogma for that
matter. This is not a rule book. It merely provides insights into why some “rules” are important and
why some “rules” work, and how ignoring some “rules” results in artistic failure.
“Rules”
(Genuflect when you say that, bub!)
Rules, schmules! The phrase, “rules of bonsai,” is horrible terminology. This one unfortunate
misnomer is likely responsible for the poor level of understanding of bonsai fundamentals for
multitudes of self-proclaimed innovative bonsai enthusiasts. The rules of bonsai are merely some
artistic conventions that enhance and simplify the image that the artist tries to convey to others as
beautiful, meaningful or evocative (N. Lenz, 2002).
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It is important that you understand this distinction: the "rules" of artistry are guidelines for how
to communicate, not what to communicate. These rules are just references to the fundamentals of
artistry as they are applied to bonsai, nothing more than that. The Japanese did not invent these
rules, nor are the rules codified and recorded in some iron bound tome. Let’s dispense with this awful
term, shall we?
Who should read this book?
This book is for bonsai enthusiasts who understand bonsai basics; those who are familiar with
the basic styles of bonsai and who know how to achieve these basic designs with various species –
and have successfully done so on several occasions. It will be beneficial if the reader also understands
which species are best suited to certain basic styles and why.
This book is also for those enthusiasts who have questions about why the so-called rules of
bonsai are important or what these conventions of artistry accomplish. Those who note a difference
in beauty or appeal between different bonsai displays, but don’t quite know why this difference
exists will likely also benefit from this book.
This book is also for those unfortunate souls who erroneously believe that these rul… er,
guidelines and conventions are overly constraining or useless. Nothing could be further from the
truth and I hope that I can change some minds by way of this text.
The Language of Artistry
What is good bonsai design?
Wait! Before you start imagining a powerful surface root structure and perfect ramification, let’s
cut right to the basics. Forget the individual elements and think about quality design. What indicates
success in design?
Here are a few indications of design success:
 the design is evocative: it makes the viewer feel
 the design is provocative: it makes the viewer think
 the design seems natural: it could seemingly come directly from nature
 the design is cohesive: it has compositional integrity; it makes sense
 the design is interesting: it draws the viewer in
 the design is dynamic: it embodies life and vitality
 the design is descriptive: it tells a story of a place or of a life history
 the design is clever: it solves its own challenges
 the design has rhythm and flow: it is neither monotonous nor chaotic
How about, the design is artistic. This one phrase describes all of the above. As the artist, you
have to communicate these things listed above to the viewer. For instance, if you want to portray a
serene, beautiful, meadow maple or elm, you use artistic design elements of calm beauty, tranquility
and elegance. If you want to portray a tortured, tenacious larch clinging precariously to a windwhipped mountain ledge, you use artistic design elements of tumult, strength, precariousness and
power (along with evidence of damage showing the struggle between life and death).
Now, you may ask, “how exactly do I do that?” Well, in order to communicate effectively, you
must use the language of artistry. Remember? Those useful, artistic conventions that enhance and
simplify the image that you want to portray as beautiful and meaningful. The coming chapters will
detail some of these artistic design elements and discuss different, advisable ways to use them.
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Caveat:
What if you don’t want to use any artistic fundamentals? Well, then you probably fail to
communicate with the viewer. Reverse one of the elements in the list above and the design may
begin to fray at the edges. Reverse two or more of them and the design will likely fall flat on its
face.
Speaking the language of artistry
In order to imbue your bonsai with artistic design and composition (read: “make it pleasing and
evocative to viewers”), you have to understand how to use the building blocks of artistry. We’re
going to depart from strictly bonsai concerns now and begin with some of the basic elements of
artistic communication.
This section details the fundamental building blocks of meaningful design. You will find that these
simple little elements will define your work (for good or ill) whether you like it or not. If you
understand these basics, you can control what your designs communicate. If you don't understand
them, your designs may likely appear to be haphazard efforts.
These basics introduced below and their metaphoric equivalents are applicable to any art or
craft, from architecture to music to painting to dance to print design to bonsai. This is just an
introduction, however. There is more to this than is detailed here, but perhaps this can serve as a
general introduction to these concepts and principles.
Line and Form
A significant portion of the basic vocabulary of artistic communication is found in line and form.
Different kinds of lines and different forms (shapes) each can convey different meanings. These
line/form definitions are somewhat universal in their connotation, even from culture to culture. To
be effective in communicating artistically, you need to understand this basic vocabulary.
Here is a basic glossary for artistic visual communication with line and form, each with drawn line
and bonsai form (trunk or branch) examples:
Vertical
strong, confident, lonely
companionship, similarity, manmade, uniformity
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hard, rigid, a group of people
father/mother-son/daughter
Perpendicular
stable, stoic, masculine
disjointed, from different sources/origins, barrier
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static, interruption
Slanted
linear movement, drama, precariousness
action
rising, bursting
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stable, perspective
unstable
Horizontal
calm, restful
Curved
natural, calm, stable, mature
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lazy, meandering, flowing, slow, relaxed, perspective
natural, sprouting, spontaneous, happy
reaching, natural, youth
wilting, old, tired
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hanging,old, tired, weeping, sad
flowing, calm, feminine, rhythm
Angled
activity, energy, fast, masculine
angry, energetic, chaotic, tortured
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conflict, chaos, anger, confusion
Round
whole, mature, complete
Basic Observations and Interpretations
Some general characterizations taken from the previous section can help us to form some basic
definitions of line and form:
Angular forms – activity, fast, masculinity, formality, harshness, poverty, struggle, roughness,
stability.
Rounded forms – leisure, slow, femininity, informality, comfort, luxury, calm, delicacy, instability.
You can use these basic definitions from the line/form glossary as a guide for your bonsai
designs. One of these lines or shapes may be the foundation for the character of your bonsai.
Generally speaking, this means that the trunk and/or the branches of your tree will be patterned
after one specific theme.
This theme will merely be the basis for the character of your design. Since a bonsai and its display
is composed of more than just the trunk and the branches, your artistic vocabulary and
communication effort must extend beyond these basic elements. Moreover, your entire styling and
presentation aims must be compatible with the overall theme of your design.
This is where artistic composition becomes important. Composition is what makes all of the
separate elements work together as one; what turns a bunch of instruments and notes on a page into
a beautiful symphony. We’ll examine composition in the coming chapters.
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In these images below, note how the trunk and branches in each case work together toward a
cohesive theme:
Japanese black pine. The calmness, strength and stoic character of the straight trunk is echoed
in the straight branches. The wide, shallow pot makes the perpendicular element rather
conspicuous. The width of the pot also adds a sense of serenity to the composition. Notice also how
the feet of the pot echo the pot's character.
Japanese red pine. The smooth but erratic curves of the trunk are carried over into the
branching. The entire tree has a consistency of energy. Furthermore, the roundness of the curves is
echoed in the mounded soil of the pot. Also, the informal character of the tree is reflected in the
informal pot form.
Zelkova serrata. The straight trunk and straight branches make this tree seem very strong, even
masculine. This strength is counterbalanced by the light, smooth bark and the round character of
the tree. The roundness evokes a sense of maturity and calm.
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Color
There is much to how color can be used to communicate, but some general observations are:
Dark colors = masculinity, strength, melancholy, formality
Light colors = femininity, delicacy, happiness, informality
Texture
As with color, textures can be used in many ways for communicative value. Some basic
observations about texture are:
Rough textures = masculinity, age, harshness, strength
Smooth textures = femininity, youth, tranquility, delicacy
In order to have a cohesive theme, you have to have a clearly defined aim. In the next chapter,
we’ll examine some of the common aims and challenges in bonsai design.
Bonsai Aesthetics
Aims and Challenges
What do you want to communicate with your bonsai?
Yes, you have to be trying to communicate something to the eventual viewer of your bonsai or
you will probably fail to do so – probably resulting in an uninteresting bonsai.
Answers to this question will vary greatly among individuals and for different bonsai because
each tree and each artist has an individual character. There are, however, some basic aims and basic
challenges involved in bonsai art, no matter the tree or the individual.
Emphasis
One common aim in bonsai design is that of depicting an ideal. It is interesting to develop and
exciting to view an archetype. Many of us are ever on the lookout for the makings of the Über tree,
the sort of ultimate statement of a bonsai specimen. Here, I’m not referring to the ultimate bonsai
design. Rather, I mean an archetypical example of one certain kind of tree or one certain form of a
tree.
This kind of effort can easily be overdone
due to gross exaggeration (as in the image at
right), but in order to be effective, the design
must employ some exaggeration. In art, this
exaggeration in design is called emphasis, or
sometimes focal point design.
In filmmaking, for instance, the director or
cinematographer when shooting a scene in
shadows may cast a light across the main
character's eyes. This is so the audience can see
the important expressions of the actor so as to
characterize the sadness or terror or surprise
that is important to the scene. This is artifice,
but important to the communicative value of
the scene.
When painting an image of a heroic figure,
Acer buergerianum
the artist may place the painting's point of view
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such that the hero towers over our perspective, looking down upon us in all of his glory. This is how
the artist communicates the hero's strength and power and heroism. Here, the emphasis is created
by point of view.
In photography, the artist may lend emphasis to a particular area of the photograph by slightly
blurring other areas. We first see the sharpness and it is clearly the focal point.
With bonsai, emphasis is usually, but not always, involved with size, perspective, movement or
texture. (more on emphasis in chapter 5 - Elements of Refinement and Direction)
Some examples:
Here (below), the emphasis is on strength and power. The hugely tapered trunk communicates
these qualities. This kind of design is popularly referred to as sumo style* bonsai (*M. Page). Aside
from the size and taper of the trunk, which indicates power, this configuration is also indicative of a
very close perspective. It evokes a sense of standing right at the foot of a great tree with the
powerful structure towering over us.
This kind of design is also indicative of
fantasy. More than just exemplifying power and
size, this sort of design is often a foray into a
fairytale story or image.
Fantasy is a powerful and common
motivation for the styling work of bonsai artists.
Many of us took up the bonsai endeavor because
through bonsai we could realize some of the
things that appeal to our sense of fantasy.
Fantasy inspired creativity often involves
caricature and the trees shown in the images
above certainly are caricatures of powerful trees.
In these cases, the naturalness, even the
"treeness" of their character is secondary to
emphasis and fantasy.
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These bonsai designs (below) emphasize the power and tumult of nature’s impact on a tree.
These bonsai communicate that fierce winds have forced the trunks and branches of these trees into
gnarly, twisted shapes that epitomize force and movement.
Needle Juniper. Photo by Elize-Marie Mann.
A pine with a tortuous trunk. Photo by Klaus Buddig.
Needle Juniper. Photo by Kurt Gagel.
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These designs (below) emphasize the struggle between life and death. They depict trees that
have been tortured by nature’s fury, and yet have clung to life for a very long time.
Clear evidence of struggle. Photo by Sylvia Smith.
Mugo Pine. Photo by Kurt Gagel.
Part of what makes these kinds of images so interesting and powerful is how they contrast with
our own mortality. When we see such images, our own conscious or subconscious reference is to
ourselves rather than merely to the trees - which makes them all the more interesting on a conscious,
ego-referencing level. We are rendered insignificant by comparison to such constitution and
longevity.
The branches of these trees (below) exhibit the gentle, delicate movement that communicates
grace and beauty. The thin trunks and the graceful branches are strongly suggestive of feminine
grace. The texture of the bark is also indicative of femininity and beauty.
A graceful and tranquil maple. Photo by Wolfgang
Putz.
This Stewartia almost personifies feminine grace.
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Personification in Artistry
After reading the previous section on some of the ideals of nature expressed in bonsai design, it
should be apparent that these ideals usually describe human qualities.
In many cases, what we appreciate in art and in nature are similar or identical to those things we
appreciate in ourselves. It should be no surprise then that much of our artistic work can be described
as an effort at personification. Artistry is often an effort to imbue our work with human qualities.
Even if we are not imposing human qualities directly on our work, we often create an image that
provides contrast between ourselves and the image or qualities exhibited by the work - as in the
dramatic suggestions of lots of deadwood on an obviously old tree. The great age that is
communicated is made more interesting by the contrast it represents to our own short lives. Or, in
how we often appreciate the great hulking size of a huge tree, due in part to how it contrasts with
our own comparatively insignificant size.
The degree of success we have in conveying these human qualities and human emotions through
an artistic work is often directly proportionate to the overall artistic success of the work. Most of us
find ourselves quite interesting and complex (ego) and we often work to impose ourselves (our own
perceived qualities) or our experiences onto the art that we see. If we can very easily do so, we may
find the work much more interesting. If in a piece of art we can find no clear reference to the human
qualities we appreciate in ourselves or in others, we may have little interest in the work.
For instance, when a photographer takes a picture of an empty park bench in winter, she’s not
trying to capture an image of a park bench! What she’s doing is capturing human emotion and
human experience; perhaps what she feels when she sees the bench.
In this case, she may make the photo in black and white (sentimentality, memory, the past,
melancholy) and she may include one or more bare-branched trees in the background (winter, cold
(works well with the b/w presentation), sadness, etc.) and there are no people in the photo. If she’s
really good, she may ensure that there is no ice or snow seen in the photo – which would be a tooliteral explanation for why everything is so cold and lifeless.
Even though there are no people in the photo, there is no sad face, no reference to humanity
(beyond the bench), the photo is a picture of loneliness, of sadness – human things, human emotion.
That is art; making the invisible visible, even tangible… making the absent present through our own
eyes as a reflection of our experience.
Now, this interest generated by personification in artistry is not always an effective tool, but it is
often effective to some degree. Personification as embodied in the ideals of nature is just one tool
that you might consider using in bonsai design.
Species-Specific Designs
You may have noticed that certain species of trees used for bonsai can often be found styled in a
manner similar to other bonsai of that species. For instance, it is common to find Cryptomeria
japonica styled in a formal upright form and seldom in any other style. And you will usually find
Zelkova serrata styled in a broom form. These are examples of species-specific styling. These species
naturally grow in these forms and so their bonsai counterparts are also found most often in these
forms.
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Cryptomeria bonsai
Cryptomeria in nature
Zelkova bonsai
Zelkova in nature
Photo by Elize-Marie Mann
Flowering quince bonsai
Flowering quince in nature
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Juniper bonsai
Juniper in nature
Photo by Elize-Marie Mann
Photo by Boon Manakitivipart
Bald cypress bonsai flat top style
Bald cypress in nature flat top style
Photo by Carl Bergstrom
While these natural forms need not be the only examples you should follow in your design work with
these species, they should often be something of a basis. Often these forms are used to highlight
what are considered the most important features of the species. These forms most effectively show
off important species characteristics and are, therefore, more easily appealing.
Avoiding these species-specific elements in bonsai design may be an ill-advised bit of working
against nature and human appreciation/interest. Surely this is not always so, but there is often
reason to carefully consider your deviations from nature’s model in your bonsai design efforts.
"Tree" concerns are just the tip of the iceberg of effective and meaningful bonsai design. In the next
chapter we explore some of the other issues.
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Challenges Inherent in Bonsai Art
Lessons from Landscape Painting
Landscape painters are set with many of the same kinds of challenges that we bonsai artists face.
After all, what they create are not actual landscapes, but rather strokes of paint on a canvas. This
presents the artist with a difficult task of communicating the impact of what is familiar to people
without using any of the natural elements present in the environment he/she attempts to depict on
canvas. Furthermore, the artist has to make the scene seem important or meaningful to the viewer.
Doing this requires the use of some useful conventions of artistry.
A couple of the most important facts that the artist has to come to grips with are:
1. The artist can communicate very little with a verbatim copy. Merely painting a picture of a
scene from nature exactly as it appears in nature will likely result in a dead work. The painting will
have little impact because there is no composition, emphasis, interpretation, emotion, …no human
element. Artists describe and provide a point of view - they do not merely record.
2. Landscape painting (and every other art) is largely concerned with human things. Every
part of a painting or sculpture or musical composition or bonsai is often without life unless it
embodies or references humanistic elements - human experience, human emotion, human qualities,
etc... If you learn nothing else in your study of artistry, learn this.
There is no reason to paint a picture or compose a piece of music or snap a photograph if it is not
an interpretation of what the artist feels or what he wants others to feel or share in.
The artist tells a story. The story that an artist tells must communicate human things to the
viewer or listener. In most cases, a painting of a stream in a valley is only created because the artist
wanted to communicate something about what he saw in a valley by a stream or what he felt when
looking at that scene. The valley and the stream are just natural references to our world, but the
message – the point of the painting – is what the artist will emphasize by way of artistic conventions.
These artistic conventions are the techniques the artist uses to manipulate the elements in the
scene to emphasize the things he wants the viewer to understand as important. So the reality of
nature is merely a reference point from which the artist creates an emotional experience or a
meaningful story. That story or the eventual compositional elements of the painting are not at all
about trees and streams and hills and clouds.
These facts are not the entire measure of art, but they constitute a great proportion of what we
artists need to have in mind (or just simply do naturally) when we are creating art.
Now, back to Bonsai
So it is the same for the bonsai artist and his medium – the tree, pot, and companion elements.
The results of successful bonsai design are not so much about the trunk and the branches and the
leaves, but about the story and emotion that the artist wants to communicate; the human things that
can be communicated.
Portraying a meaningful image of nature with bonsai is not as easy as it might seem. The fact that
bonsai are not full sized trees out in meadows or on mountainsides, but rather very small trees
growing in pots, brings with it many artistic challenges; not unlike the painter who uses strokes of
paint on a canvas instead of real people or real trees or real mountains - or the composer who uses
notes and sounds from various instruments instead of speech or video.
In order to compensate for these great differences in size, perspective, environment and age,
bonsai artists have to employ certain clever and communicative, even deceptive, techniques. These
techniques are artistic affectations used to portray the image and feeling the artist wants the viewer
to see and feel. These affectations of form and composition can be considered the syntax of the
language of art.
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Communicating Visual Characteristics
Size
Size is the most obvious difference between bonsai and regular trees. Bonsai will usually be 90
cm tall, or less. Often we work to portray an image of a very large tree and this presents challenges
we must address in order to be successful at presenting a credible image. Here are a few ways of
addressing this challenge.
Lean the tree forward slightly
Manipulating the trunk line so that the bonsai, the crown
especially, leans toward the viewer is effective for offering the
perspective that the tree is towering over them. Usually when
we look at trees, we see them from our perspective of standing
on the ground under them or from nearby. This common
vantage point presents an image we learn to expect when
looking at trees. By leaning a bonsai toward the viewer, he gets
something of this same perspective, which helps the bonsai to
convey an image of great size.
Image left: a view up into a tree from nearby. Notice how it
conveys the feeling of towering over and embracing you.
Branch proportion
One characteristic of small, young trees is that they generally have
branches that are quite large in proportion to their trunk girth and
height. Very large old trees (depending on the species) generally have
branches that are quite small in proportion to their trunk girth and
height.
With our bonsai, we can enhance the impression of great size by
decreasing the branch sizes relative to the trunk size.
Note that the same is true for the canopy width. The shorter the
branches, the taller the tree will seem.
Decreasing internodes ascending the trunk
From our usual vantage point on the ground, when we look up into
trees, the branches seem to get closer together from base to apex. While
this is generally a common trait in trees, our perspective exaggerates this
impression, making the topmost branches seem quite close together. It
appears to us that the trunk has greatly decreasing internodal spaces the
higher our eye travels.
This needle juniper (image right) is evocative
of a very tall tree because of its trunk width-toheight ratio, the small branches (compared to the
trunk) and the decreasing internodes from base to
apex.
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With our bonsai, we can slightly exaggerate this feature to further enhance the impression of
great size or height.
This Japanese black pine is quite
old and has a very rough bark. The
long and thick branches, however,
make the tree look very young and
quite small.
Here is the same tree after a
restyling. Notice how the tree looks
much larger now. The branches are
in better proportion - a much better
use of the material.
Perspective
Because our common view of trees (when we really look at them) is from nearby and from the
ground, the largest part of the trunk, the base, is generally quite close to us. The upper portions of
the tree are more distant and above us. This distance and almost ground-level perspective lends a
distinct form to the trunk taper. The trunk seems to taper quickly and our perspective also
exaggerates the trunk size, relative to the height.
Somewhat exaggerated trunk size and taper
We can work to approximate this same perspective for viewers of our bonsai by making the trunk
width and taper somewhat exaggerated. This is where the oft-cited principle involving the ratio of
trunk width to height becomes useful.
Image right: The exaggerated trunk taper of this
trident maple bonsai is indicative of a close perspective.
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Here below is an example of the affect of proximity on the trunk width-to-height ratio.
Here (image left) we see a Sycamore tree as it
appears from a distance. From this perspective, we
see something close to the actual proportion of the
tree. Notice that the ratio of trunk width to height is
1:19. In bonsai art, it is unlikely that anything other
than a bunjin (literati) style tree will ever be
successful using that ratio. For bonsai, a ratio of 1:3
to 1:12 is most often employed because it usually
looks best (but not always). This is because we are
trying to portray the image of a great tree and this
ratio range more closely approximates what we see
from our usual perspective when walking through
our neighborhood or park or out in the wilderness.
Here (image right) as seen from much closer, the ration is
about 1:10 (almost half the previous ratio). We see how the
same tree appears to have a more powerful trunk and more
severe taper when viewed from close proximity. This feeling is
something like what we work to convey with most of our
styling and composition efforts with bonsai.
In the sketches above, notice how they could easily be the same tree as seen from varying
distances. Left to right, they suggest: far, nearer, close-up. Consider these forms when you are
creating your own bonsai designs.
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Be careful not to try and follow any set trunk width-to-height ratio for all bonsai. The trunk
width-to-height ratio is wholly dependent on the image you want to portray and not on any set
formula. Width-to-height ratio is just one tool used for expression. If you use the same ratio for all of
your bonsai, you effectively render null the meaningful expression that can be obtained by artistically
using this tool.
Lower ratios are for conveying close proximity, power, age or strength. High ratios are for
conveying a distant view, grace or certain environmental conditions or for portraying the bunjin
(literati) style. Learn to use the ratio that is appropriate for each specific bonsai composition. Make
this ratio reinforce the message you want to convey and let the other compositional elements of
the tree and display support this ratio (more on this in the design integrity section).
Age
Usually, we develop and style our bonsai to convey a sense of great age. As mentioned before,
bonsai often portray archetypical ideals. Regardless of the special individual character we work to
portray with a bonsai, the impression of great age is almost always part of the message. However,
most of the trees we most often work with are relatively young. Given many years of development,
the telltale signs of age will come, but we also want our younger bonsai to appear to be very old. So,
we must use artistic techniques to convey age.
In bonsai group plantings, you have the opportunity to use trees of varying ages (apparent ages)
to introduce dynamism into your composition. Just as a composer or musician uses the softer, more
quiet sections of a piece of music to enhance and contrast with the bolder or louder sections, young
trees in a bonsai group planting provide interesting and dynamic contrast to older trees in the group.
Descending branch angles
One way of indicating advanced age with bonsai is to angle the branches downward. As trees
age, the weight of their extending branches often causes them to droop downward. Furthermore,
the cumulative effect of heavy snowfall causes many trees’ branches to grow downward from the
trunk - more so as time passes. This characteristic is usually found on conifers, but sometimes with
deciduous trees as well.
Well-developed surface root structure
When trees grow old, they usually show a more developed and more visible surface root
structure than younger trees do. The apparent age of a bonsai is increased when this feature is well
developed (as in the photo below).
An old tree's root base.
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Exaggerated trunk girth
In many cases, very old trees have large, even massive trunks as compared with their height. Like
the issue of perspective described before, this feature can enhance the impression of age as well as
size.
An old camphor tree with a fat trunk.
Image by Michael Martino.
A bonsai maple that suggests great
age due to it's exaggerated trunk
girth.
Open foliar structure
Full, lush canopies that cover the structure are typical of young trees or even mature trees, but
seldom very old trees. When trees grow old, they tend to have more sparse foliage and a more open
composition. Opening the foliar structure of your bonsai can work with other indicative features to
add an air of age to the tree.
A more visible structure
As shown in the previous images, younger trees have more lush foliage, which tends to cover up
the often-leggy branch structure. As trees age, their branch structure matures and shows more
character. At the same time, the foliage becomes sparser and more of the structure becomes visible.
Since we tend to associate a more visible structure with older trees, styling your bonsai to show
more of the branch structure can aid in conveying a sense of great age.
This Japanese white pine seem ancient
for several reasons, but particularly
because we can see lots of the delicious old
branching structure beneath and in the
midst of the foliage. This same tree would
seem far younger if the foliage covered the
now visible branching.
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Signs of damage
As trees go through life, they are constantly enduring the harshness of nature; periodic damage
from wind and cold, attacks from insects and disease, etc. Incorporating these features into your
bonsai design can enhance the appearance of age.
Note that this kind of damage should not seem to be recent. In order to be convincing, scars
should be bordered by the swell of healing tissue. Scars should not be round, but rather irregular in
shape. Dead wood should be aged in appearance rather than look newly carved. A broken apex
should appear to have been replaced some time ago.
Rough, consistent bark (species specific)
Trees start out in life with smooth bark and many of them form rough or corky bark as they age.
Throughout their lives, they will have areas of old, developed bark and younger branches with
smooth bark. Very old trees have a consistent bark texture over their entire structure, but for the
smallest twigs.
This Japanese red pine looks ancient, due in part to
the consistency of its rough bark over the entire
structure. Even the smallest branches have the same
character as the trunk texture.
This Styrax japonica conveys a sense of great age
due, in part, to the mature and consistent texture of
its bark over the entire structure of the tree.
It takes time to develop, but a bonsai with a consistent, rough bark will appear older than one
without rough bark or with rough bark only on certain parts of the trunk or branching. There are
ways of speeding up the bark development process, but the most effective tool is simply time.
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Environment
Telling a story can be an important part of bonsai art. An important part of this story is usually
concerned with the environment that a bonsai and companion elements suggest. Trees in nature
have their environment surrounding them. Bonsai, however, are removed from their natural setting
and are growing in pots. As bonsai artists, we have to use artistic means of suggesting the
environment that is part of each bonsai’s story.
Display companions
There are various ways of suggesting a tree’s environment and most of them are represented by
the basic components common to the traditional formal display of bonsai. A simple companion plant
that comes from the environment you wish to indicate can be a good environmental clue. Likewise, a
scroll that depicts a mountain range or a marsh plant or a storm or a single mountain far away can
offer the necessary reference.
A stand is typically used for displaying bonsai and it serves a few functions. First of all, it is an
element of formality. Artistic display is usually formal and the stand helps to convey this theme.
Further, the stand is useful in conveying various levels of importance and/or geographic location
within the display. This, too, is part of the formality of the display.
A companion plant, for instance, might have its own short stand, but the bonsai tree is the focus
of the display, so it is on a higher stand. Conversely, a meadow species bonsai might occupy a short
stand while the companion distant mountain suiseki would be on a taller stand, indicating the natural
arrangement of these elements in nature.
Here (image right), the companion
plant helps to suggest a particular
environment (marsh or meadow
perhaps). Furthermore, the color of the
plant helps to support the season that
is implied by the bare branches of the
tree. Photo by Sylvia Smith.
There is much to this formal display aspect of bonsai art. It is a subject that is vital to artistic
bonsai display and is beyond the scope of this text. I highly recommend that the reader become
familiar with these principles through research in other texts, educational venues and lots of display
composition practice.
Pots
Pot size and shape can be effective for indicating environment. Here are just a few of the ways
for using these elements for this purpose.
Note: this section will not be concerned with the basics of matching pot to tree. The
fundamentals of pot selection should be understood before one attempts to apply the artistic
principles outlined here.
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Indicating a tree growing in a rocky crevice
An unglazed pot that is taller than its width can help to suggest an exposed rocky cliff with the
tree growing in a crevice. This is effective when used for a cascade tree with a thinner trunk
Another pot form for this kind of image is the crescent pot. Crescent pots usually have the
texture of a rocky cliff and the way that the crescent tends to envelop the tree’s base helps to further
enhance the image of it growing from a rocky crevice.
Yet another, more literal way to portray this environment is to plant the tree directly on a rock.
This can be done either in the root-over-rock style or the saikei style, with the tree planted in a
crevice or in soil that is on the rock.
Pine in a crescent pot.
Photo by Kurt Gagel.
Trident maple growing on a rock.
Photo by Suthin Sukosolvisit.
Honeysuckle in a suggestive pot.
Photo by Nick Lenz.
An evocative planting of pines on a large stone.
Photo by Wolfgang Putz.
Hinoki cypress in an evocative pot.
Photo by Suthin Sukosolvisit.
This Stewartia makes a very convincing image.
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Indicating a tree growing in a wide meadow
A wide and shallow oval, round or rectangle pot can work to suggest the images of a wide
meadow. To enhance this image, a flat lip on the pot rim can add a sense of expansiveness. This kind
of image works best with trees that are commonly found in meadows and when shaped in broom or
informal broom forms.
These bonsai seem to have been taken directly from expansive
meadows. Both their peculiar growth form and the pots they grow
in help to convey this idea.
Indicating a windblown prairie or moor
A flat slab used as the planting surface can help to enhance the image portrayed by windswept
trees.
Indicating a forest hill
Both a shallow oval pot and a convex slab are effective in indicating a hill for a forest planting of
bonsai trees. In these cases, it is also helpful to mound the soil slightly to assist in portraying this
image.
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This planting of elms (image left) is very
evocative. Photo by John Romano.
Trident maples (image right) in natural looking
group.
Moss
Mosses of various types are commonly used to dress up a bonsai for exhibit display. A thick
carpet of lush moss covering the soil can offer the impression of a lawn of grass. While this alone can
be appealing, there are ways to use moss to provide specific context to your bonsai composition.
Moss can add a sense of age and permanence to the composition. You may have repotted the
tree only last week, but if you have applied moss to the soil correctly, you can make it seem like the
tree had been growing in that spot for decades or centuries. Even so, this is most effective if the
moss has had time to grow up slightly onto the surface roots or even the trunk. Note that this is not
always so and this kind of moss growth is not always appropriate and sometimes even detrimental to
the tree’s bark.
An old pine with moss that has obviously been growing for a while, such that it has grown up
onto the rootage.
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When mosses of different varieties are used, it can offer the impression of an alpine meadow or even
a mossy pocket in the mountains. A patchwork of moss might be effective for indicating a harsh
environment while a solid carpet indicates more of a serene environment.
A solid carpet of moss indicates tranquility.
A patchwork of different mosses conveys a more harsh environment.
If the moss has flower “flags,” be sure that they all point in the same direction. Further, make
sure that this direction is consistent with the flow of your bonsai’s growth. This little detail could
complete or detract from the integrity of your composition.
These somewhat literal references to nature can be effective for communication in bonsai art. There
are, however, some elements of nature that are not so useful in our efforts, as we will examine in the
next chapter.
Toward More Artistic Design
Nature’s Irrelevancies
Blasphemy, you say? Actually, bonsai art gets more of its design license from artistic concerns
than from natural ones. This is an important premise that you’ll need to cozy up to in order to
produce more meaningful bonsai art. Don't forget - artists don't chronicle; they interpret and
describe.
Compile any list of bonsai “flaws” and then walk out your door into your neighborhood or to a park
or a forest and you will quickly be able to find every one of these bonsai no-no’s on the trees you see.
However, it is important to understand that the existence of these growth forms on trees in nature is
largely irrelevant to your endeavor of bonsai design. What is relevant is what these growth forms on
a bonsai communicate or fail to communicate to the viewer of a bonsai, and how they contribute
to and detract from design objectives.
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The fact is, these growth forms that are considered to be bonsai flaws are flaws not because
nature or the rules say so, but because they don’t generally contribute to effective, concise design
and communication. They generally run counter to your aims in artistic communication. Further, they
are not part of what we generally recognize as beautiful on a very basic level.
Caveat: This is a general guideline and is not meant to say that imperfect elements found on
trees in nature should always be eliminated from your bonsai. But, it is generally true. There are
ways to use nature's imperfections artistically. These seeming violations of basic convention are
not easily explained by basic convention, but they do make reference to basic convention - by
way of what they accomplish. Understanding what is communicated by a particular imperfection
can easily make its use a successful one. Success demands understanding.
Non-Natural Elements of Bonsai Artistry
You may find it odd that when working to portray the image of a great tree it is usually advisable
to avoid some common tree structures found in nature. Again, the reasons are artistic in nature (if
you’ll pardon the pun).
Simplify Your Life
One of the basics of artistry is simplification. Simplification is employed for a couple of reasons
having to do with human perception – that, and the fact that in art we suggest and interpret; we
don’t chronicle.
Firstly, trees are physically complex organisms. Since with bonsai we are working with very smallscale structures, we just have to simplify when rendering the basic structures. This is because we
don’t have the same amount of real estate to work with. Scaling down necessitates simplification.
Another reason for simplification has to do with the idea that you can’t account for everything
that viewers will see in your work. A wonderful example of this ideal comes from something that
motion picture director, Steven Spielberg once said in an interview. He noted, and I’m paraphrasing,
that many elements of a film are left unrefined or somewhat undefined “…because the audience
brings, collectively, far more imagination than we can specifically account for,” or some such
sentiment.
For our purposes, what he says suggests that if we try and account for every little natural detail
in our bonsai work, we effectively eliminate content/meaning more than we include it. We simplify
to allow for suggestion on our part and imagination on the part of the viewer.
A tangled web
One of the more important applications of bonsai refinement and artistic simplification is to that
of branch and shoot arrangement. The branches of large trees growing in nature are usually quite
chaotic in composition. They grow every which way (and violate all manner of bonsai composition
guidelines), but the overall effect is often quite smooth and appealing. Try this with bonsai and you
get anything but an appealing image.
When arranging the secondary and tertiary shoots on bonsai branches, you have to create some
semblance of order. Reasons for this, again, include the artistic principle of simplification. Another
reason is that you need to use these shoots to help bring consistency to your design. These branches
and shoots need to help to communicate the message/image that you are aiming for and a tangled
mass of chaotic shoots usually communicates little more than neglect.
Furthermore, there is the annoying issue of scale. On a large tree in nature, the leaves or needles
are very, very small in relation to the branches and trunk. Not so with bonsai. This is why we
generally work to form bonsai branches and leaves into foliar pads. This affectation of order helps to
take emphasis away from the fact that the leaves or needles are so out of scale with the entire
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composition. This form provides more emphasis on the outline of the foliar structure rather than on
its individual pieces - as in the photos below:
The needles on this pine (before and after styling) are the same length
in each of these photographs. However, the image on the right seems to
have shorter needles because the branches are arranged into foliage pads.
This causes the eye to first see the outline rather than the individual
needles of the branches. Arranging branches into foliar pads helps to hide
the out of scale leaf size. Photos by Howard Smith.
As simple as 1,2,3
Another artistic tool that is important to bonsai is the concept of basic branch order.
Misunderstanding of this concept, or perhaps the reason for it, has led to the bonsai cliché of a “1-23 tree.” This “1-2-3” concept is concerned with the ideal of right-back-left or right-left-back branch
order for bonsai.
This basic bonsai branch composition owes allegiance to the artistic ideas of flow and rhythm
(eye-flow). This 1-2-3 branch order is the bonsai mechanism for inducing a specific flow that carries
the viewer’s eye into and around the composition. Now, the branch order need not necessarily be
left-back-right, but there does need to be a logical flow to the branch order, else the viewer’s eye will
avoid certain areas or will stop with no logical place to resume. Quite simply, poor branch order
causes disinterest.
Bar-branches (2 branches emerging at the same level on opposite sides of the trunk), for instance,
cause the viewer's eye to stop and provide no clear indication for how to continue. Obviously, the
viewer does continue, but there is an uncomfortable interruption in what should be a natural path
into and around the bonsai composition. A tree with a bar-branch structure almost appears to be
two trees; one below the bar branches and one above them. This creates a quite literal interruption
of design integrity (two parts instead of one whole).
The usually horizontal line formed by bar-branches that bisects the trunk mirrors the soil line. It
suggests a horizon or landscape level that is always out of place in a tree. Branches are your
mechanism for inducing flow and rhythm. Bar-branches form a line reference for a "full stop."
There are horticultural and other aesthetic reasons for avoiding bar-branch structures, too. Left
for a long time, bar-branches will cause an ugly swelling on the trunk. This swelling may not appear
for a few years, but it will happen eventually. There is no reason to let that happen and ruin an
otherwise nice bonsai.
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Notice (above) how the bar branch
structure almost seems to cut the tree in half.
It makes an uncomfortable line that bisects the
structure. Also, the left branch is unnaturally
straight and too conspicuous among the other
branches on this bonsai.
This otherwise nice Japanese maple
(above) is marred by the existence of an ugly
bar-branch. The area where the two branches
come off the trunk has already begun to swell.
In time, this swelling will become worse.
As the artist, it is your responsibility to invite the viewer into the composition and lead them
through it, to some degree. This is true of all art. This must be done by the way the bonsai structure
is composed. If you fail to address this important element of artistic composition, your work will lack
interest and have diminished appeal to most viewers.
This Japanese white pine is quite mature and well developed, but it has poor composition. The
branching creates an uncomfortable and unnatural symmetry. It almost looks like "green donuts"
ascending the trunk. This is an example of "picket fence" proportion. There should be slightly more
differentiation in the branch levels left and right.
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This Japanese black pine has poor branch order. The left, left - right, right order (along with the
other flaws this pine possesses) makes the composition uninteresting. Photos by Howard Smith.
Conclusion
As with many of the basic artistic conventions, there are also ways to use a violation of these
principles toward an artistic end. First, however, learn how to successfully adhere to these principles
before you concern yourself with violating them. The "rule" is not what is important. What is
important is what necessary aesthetic issue the "rule" addresses. As an artist, you may find creative
ways of addressing the issue - but, of course, not until you understand the issue.
The elements of composition covered in the above section are found to one degree or another in
the basic, commonly cited design guidelines for bonsai common to most bonsai books. Delve deeply
into these conventions and work to understand what they each seek to accomplish from a design and
horticultural standpoint. As an artist, you may then be able to find alternate ways of addressing the
results these conventions facilitate. This is artistry.
Next, we examine some ways of directly connecting with your audience and leading them to the
good stuff and away from the badness in your designs.
Elements of Refinement and Direction
Aside from basic design and composition, there are other concerns that should be considered in the
design process. These things help to tie the composition together or compensate for inherent flaws
or shortcomings or help to lead the viewer’s eye to the main point of interest in the composition.
The Viewer's Perspective
Avoiding Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is the mental state of discomfort that arises when someone's beliefs or
thoughts are in conflict. For instance, if you like the trunk of a bonsai (you like the bonsai), but you
believe that the branching is in poor position (you don't like the bonsai), you have cognitive
dissonance; conflicting thoughts. So, do you or do you not like the bonsai?
Truth be told, your audience truly wants to find something interesting or extraordinary in the
composition you present to them. If you can help them to find it quickly, while avoiding the flaws,
they may then quickly decide (consciously or subconsciously) that they like it. Having made this
decision, they will find difficulty in being convinced otherwise.
Cognitive dissonance is also bound up with our egos. Once we come to a conclusion, new data
that conflicts with our conclusion induces discomfort. We don't like the idea that we might not be
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right. Therefore, our most common response to new conflicting data is to work to discredit it. We
tend to believe that this new conflicting data is inaccurate - it has no bearing on our already reached
conclusions. "Whew! Now I feel better," we think.
So, help your audience to see the goodness in your bonsai composition and not see the badness
(there's always badness in there somewhere). Once they see the good, they'll like what they see and
the flaws that become apparent later will have diminished impact.
Point of Interest
Sometimes when you first see a raw, untrained tree, you’ll notice that it has a single outstanding
feature. You may even find that the rest of the tree is quite ordinary or perhaps not promising, but
this one feature makes the tree material worthwhile to work with for bonsai. With this kind of
material, an important part of the design work will be concerned with accentuating this promising
feature.
One way to accentuate a feature is to work to diminish the impact of the rest of the composition.
This does not mean to ignore the rest of the tree but to work to keep the design of the rest of the
tree comparatively basic or “quiet.” This way, nothing will interfere with the viewer’s eye quickly
finding the main feature of the composition.
Physical Features
For example, the foliage on the juniper in the image below acts as a frame of sorts. It surrounds
the main feature of the tree - the beautiful interplay of the live veins and the dead wood. The foliage
forms a beautiful but sedate green frame that effectively sets off the stark beauty of the tumultuous
dead wood.
In the example left, the conspicuous
proportion of this maple’s surface root
structure is obviously the main feature.
Styling the rest of the tree in an ordinary and
sedate form creates added emphasis for the
main feature. Regardless of what flaws may
be present up top, our first response to this
image is likely, "Wow!"
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Color and Contrast
"For me, color was daylong obsession, joy, and torments."
-- Claude Monet
Yet another way to accentuate the primary feature of a tree is with color. There are many ways
to use color to add emphasis or interest to a bonsai. Here are a couple of ways:
Here (photo left), the shape of the foliage is
nothing to get excited about, but that's not the
focal point. With this shimpaku juniper the artist
used a brush to polish the bark, changing it from
a dull brown to a bright reddish color. This color
contrasts beautifully with the white of the dead
wood and the lush green of the foliage. Further,
the color of the live vein is complimented by the
interesting crescent pot.
Since we cannot generally alter the color of the leaves or trunk on most trees, we have to find
other ways to use color artistically to add emphasis to a feature on a bonsai - as in the examples
below:
In this example (above), the light color of
the pot and the soft, green carpet of moss
provide compliment and contrast for the light
colored and intricate tracery of bare branches
on this beech grouping. The yellowish color of
the pot brings out the reddish highlights of the
newly forming buds. However...
...Notice in the second image (above) how
the dark green pot works against the desired
aesthetics, making the contrast too stark and
the composition less natural looking and too
masculine.
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The Badness
Disguising Flaws
Virtually no tree used for bonsai will be without flaws or less than desirable attributes. Often you
may not be able to repair these flaws and you are left with an eyesore on what could otherwise be a
very nice bonsai. You may, however, be able to overcome these challenges by way of certain artistic
conventions.
Misdirection
Using a method similar to that discussed in the previous section, you can sometimes compensate
for a poor feature by working to direct the viewer’s eye elsewhere.
In this example (image right), the elm has a poor
surface root structure and trunk shape. Also, some of
the branches are too straight off of the trunk. In order
to make the best use of this material, the artist decided
to give the composition great drama, showing the
evidence of powerful natural forces in the movement
of the secondary and tertiary branches. The first
impression is that the tree has been caught up in a
sudden gust of wind (rather than, "Ugh, what a sucky
rootage."). The result is that the volume of the poor
features is significantly diminished in the overall image.
Chinese elm by the author.
In this example (image left), the trunk of the
tree has poor taper, but the overall
impression is quite nice. Here, the artist has
composed the branches in such a way as to
take emphasis away from the lesser feature
(the trunk taper) and has built a nicer image
around the beautiful branching and foliage.
The color of the moss compliments the foliage
and creates a visual connection, helping the
viewer to almost ignore the particulars of the
trunk.
Spruce. Photo by Kurt Gagel.
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This holly bonsai (image right) is
really quite beautiful, but not because of
the condition of the trunk. The trunk is
rather ordinary, even unattractive.
However, the artist has grown this
bonsai specifically for the beautiful
image that is created by the light bark
set against the brilliant red of the
berries. One scarcely notices the poor
trunk formation.
In the next chapter we will examine some of the things that can shoot down your efforts at
communication - and how these issues can be resolved to your benefit.
Design Integrity
Communication Breakdown
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to give or get the wrong impression when communicating
by email?
It happens all the time; someone will write something in a message that is good natured or
innocuous, but the recipient gets the impression that the author of the message is angry or full of
attitude. This happens because humans are accustomed to communicating on several levels at once
and email circumvents this.
When standing face to face, the spoken word is less than half of the message that gets
communicated. When we communicate with others face to face, we are saying what we mean, but
we are also indicating what we mean by our body language, by our facial expression, by our tone of
voice, by our peculiar choice of words, by our inflection, by our eyes' pupil size and by other less
obvious means. Face to face communication is a very complex and delicate operation. So, as we
remove various levels of communication by the elimination of our use of certain senses (sight, sound,
proximity, etc…), communication breaks down.
Now, when you attempt to express meaning with your bonsai work, unless you take advantage
of every means for message consistency, your communication with the viewer begins to break down.
Artistic communication is filled with as many nuances as face-to-face, verbal communication. When
you ignore certain elements of this communication, you lose your ability to connect with the viewer.
This multi-dimensional concept of artistic communication is called design integrity. Design
integrity is achieved when all of the compositional elements of your bonsai work toward
communicating a consistent message.
Tree Composition
If you know how certain branch forms and trunk forms can convey certain meanings (from
chapter 1 - The Language of Artistry) and you know which species are best suited to which forms and
you know how to portray the evidence of certain environmental influences on your tree, the next
step is to put together a coherent composition.
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Composition is to trunk and branches and shoots and roots and pot and stand as a cookie recipe
is to flour and sugar and butter and milk and eggs and vanilla. See, good composition can be yummy!
It is important to keep in mind that every part of your tree, every design element, …everything,
should work toward communicating a consistent message. Most importantly, no feature should work
against the image you are trying to portray or the message you are trying to communicate. (you
wouldn’t use vinegar in place of vanilla for those cookies, would you?)
Now, this does not mean that the design has to be one-dimensional or monotonous. Tension
may be important to the design, but still, consistency in the overall message has to be the rule that
governs all. It is the baseline to which all deviation (deviation with good reasons only) makes
reference.
An easy way to discover if your tree has a consistent message is to ask yourself some questions
about all of the individual elements. For instance, during and after your design work ask yourself the
following:
 what does the trunk line communicate?
 what does the trunk height to width ratio communicate?
 what does the trunk movement communicate?
 what does the trunk position in the pot communicate?
 what does the trunk's angle of rise from the soil line communicate?
 what does the branch angle communicate?
 what does the branch form communicate?
 what does the branch movement communicate?
 what does the branch development communicate?
 what does the branch taper communicate?
 what does the apical structure communicate?
 what does the foliar volume communicate?
 what does the foliar form communicate?
 what does the foliage distribution communicate?
 what does the empty space (or lack of it) in the tree communicate?
 what does the bark texture communicate?
 what does the bark color communicate?
 what does the overall bark consistency communicate?
 what does the visible root structure size communicate?
 what does the visible root structure form communicate?
 what does this particular species generally communicate?
etc…
Add to this the message communicated by the pot and soil surface:
 what does the pot shape communicate?
 what does the pot color communicate?
 what does the pot size communicate
 what does the pot’s foot form communicate?
 what does the pot depth communicate?
 what does the soil line communicate?
 what does the soil decoration (moss?) communicate?
All of the answers to these questions should indicate consistency. This is not to say that they
should all be the same answer, but that the answers should all be compatible with one another and
consistent with your overall aims. If any answer is not compatible with your desired aims, there is
conflict and diminished integrity in the design.
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For instance, if in an orchestra the basses, violins, cellos, bassoons and french horns are all
playing "Feelings," but the trumpets and trombones are playing the opening theme to "Star Wars,"
there is diminished integrity (to say the least!). In this example, the bulk of the orchestra is playing a
beautiful, melancholy, delicate theme and the trumpets are playing a masculine, aggressive and
braying theme. The concert goers are now rather confused and are saying, "I want my money back!"
Note that if any answer to the above questions is “nothing at all,” it may indicate a problem that
needs to be dealt with. The solution to this problem may require some time to implement, but at
least you’ll know where to direct your effort.
Note also that if you don't know the answer to one of the questions listed above, you are just
rolling the dice with your design effort. If you don't know what you're communicating with a specific
element, how can you be successful? I hope that this illustrates the importance of your having a
fluency with the language of artistry.
For guidance in determining what a specific feature might communicate, refer to the section on
line, form, color, and texture in chapter 1 -The Language of Artistry. As that glossary is not at all
comprehensive, look further into art's language by delving into other texts on artistry. Explanations
of any art will be relevant to your bonsai design efforts.
Problems of Consistency
When some bonsai are left to their own devices or if the artist is not attentive to design integrity,
conflicts can arise with the bonsai’s design. The result is often poor or irrelevant communication.
Applying a critical and uncompromising eye to the composition can usually help us to discover these
conflicts. However, another way of discovering these consistency problems is to review our answers
to the list of questions in the previous section (above). Again, if any of the answers is not compatible
with the desired aims, there is conflict and diminished integrity of the design (read: diminished
artistry and communication).
Inconsistency of age and strength:
For instance, if we are using a Japanese
black pine with a large trunk with angular
changes in direction, significant taper, aged
bark and a powerful surface root structure,
BUT we have grown branches that are long,
thin and shaped with flowing curves, with
the foliage concentrated on the tips, we
have a problem. (image right)
trunk communicates:
power, masculinity, age, severe conditions
surface roots communicate:
strength, age, masculinity
branches communicate:
delicacy, femininity, immaturity, tranquility
See the conflict? The first two main elements are consistent in their message. The other main
feature, the branches, communicates something entirely different from the rest of the tree and there
seems to be no logical reason to explain it. This tells us that the branches need attention and should
be styled/grown, perhaps over a long period of time, to help carry the consistent message of age,
strength, severity and masculinity.
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Inconsistency of Environment
If you have a maple bonsai (image right) with a mostly
one-sided root structure, thin and gracefully curved trunk, but
with branches that come straight off the trunk in a horizontal
line and stay straight, you have inconsistency.
surface roots communicate:
directional movement, a bit of weakness
trunk communicates:
conditions that alter trunk line, femininity
branches communicate:
strength, masculinity, stability, rigidity
In this case, the roots and trunk indicate conditions that
cause the trunk to have movement. These same conditions
should also cause the branches to have movement. Their
straight form is in conflict with the rest of the tree. This conflict
unbalances the composition.
Inconsistency of implied age:
In this example (image left), the design
is of a near-view elm bonsai. The pot is
dark and angular. The tree has a powerful
trunk with sever taper. The lower branches
are fairly thick and decrease in diameter up
the trunk. However, the apical structure of
the tree is conical - indicating a young tree.
pot communicates:
strength, masculinity, old tree
trunk communicates:
near view, powerful tree, masculine old
tree
apex communicates:
younger tree, conifer
There is an inconsistency of age here. Most of the signals coming from this composition
communicate great age. However, the conical apex of the tree suggests a younger tree. Old trees,
especially old deciduous trees, generally have rounded crowns. The pointed crown on this tree
conflicts with the rest of the composition.
These simple examples should help to illustrate some of the kinds of things that you should be
attentive to in bonsai design work. Overall consistency of message helps to make the proposed
image a powerful one. Consistency lends weight to the message, helping make it a believable and
successful one.
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Compositional Mistakes
In addition to the commonly described bonsai faults and flaws, there are compositional mistakes
to avoid. These mistakes are based on common artistic conventions that are generally recognized as
being distracting, detracting, artificial or inappropriate for the artistic display of bonsai.
Touching Tangents
When two lines or outlines of different origins touch, it creates a distracting feature. This kind of
compositional mistake draws the viewer’s eye away from the natural flow of the composition, as
with the images below:
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Odd New Angles (unless used as a focal point) and Inconsistent Mainlines
When a main line, such as a trunk, is inconsistently shaped or inconsistently random in
movement, it creates an uncomfortable tension in the composition. Also, when a single line deviates
from the flow of the rest of the composition, it creates a distraction. This kind of deviation can be
used as a focal point, but must not be too overpowering and there must be an obvious logical reason
for it. Here are some examples:
This pine has a significant problem of line consistency (among other
problems). The trunk starts out straight for half of the height and then
curves are introduced. Photo by Howard Smith.
The consistency of the branch angles on this juniper is marred by the
odd branch just below the apex.
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Notice the odd new angle of the branches
on this Japanese maple (photo right). These
branches conflict with the integrity of the
overall branch composition. They are out of
place and mar this otherwise stunning bonsai.
Planting Position Errors
The position of the tree in the pot, the rise of the trunk from the soil, the inclination of the tree
and the planting level of the tree are all among the very first elements noticed when someone views
a bonsai. These elements of composition must be properly addressed in order to prevent a bad first
impression. Even if the rest of the composition is quite nice, these elements will tend to overpower
the effect of the rest of the composition.
This Japanese black pine is planted
in the wrong position in the pot. Given
the tree's form, the trunk should be
moved to just right of center.
This Japanese white pine has a poor trunk angle
in the pot. Since the trunk is rather featureless, it
should be planted at a more acute angle (and the
foliage arrangement then addressed as well).
The trunk on this juniper(image left)
rises from the soil at a poor angle - too
straight up. The trunk is dynamic, but
the initial rise from the soil is anything
but.
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The position of the pot on the stand is also important. The pot should be placed in the center of
the stand - left to right - and as close to center – front to back – without covering up any inlay on the
front side surface of the display stand.
Some might find this centering odd, considering that trees planted in rectangle or oval pots are
generally planted slightly to one side. This same guideline does not, however, apply to the pot and
stand. Balance between dynamic trunk flow and the pot is addressed by the bonsai's planting
position in the pot. Having addressed this issue, if you address it again by placing the pot off-center
on the stand, you have reintroduced the imbalance. Placing a pot anywhere other than the center of
the stand creates a distracting imbalance.
Symmetry
Symmetry is seldom encountered in nature. Symmetrical composition will usually offer the
impression of artificiality.
Picket Fence Proportion
The impression conveyed by regular spacing is artificial and boring. Few things look as unnatural
as this kind of spacing.
Even though these trees (image right)
are positioned differently from front to
back, their even space left to right is ugly
and artificial looking.
This arrangement (image left) is much more
natural looking.
The implication of
horizontal lines across
the trunk of this
otherwise nice
Japanese white pine is
artificial looking.
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While the flaws and errors described above can interrupt your communication and selfexpression, in the next chapter we see that self-expression can have its own pitfalls.
Conclusion
Communication and Self-expression
No language succeeds without structure. The fundamentals of communication are always
relevant and always necessary. Skilled individuals can, with creativity, use clever violations of these
fundamentals and communicate successfully, but only with some risk and by using context to convey
meaning. Even these violations make some contextual reference to the basics, however. Without the
fundamentals, without some kind of basic reference, communication is impossible; be it verbal,
written, physical, aural or graphic communication.
Context is often the most important element in communication. Read these newspaper
headlines*, for instance:



Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
*Steven Pinker, 2002 (from The Blank Slate)
In a strict sense, the above newspaper headlines could be comical or libelous. However, the likely
logical context we infer helps us to read the correct meaning in each case.
This book has been an attempt at identifying some of the very necessary basic components for
artistic communication. Even with these guidelines, there has to be room for self-expression. Selfexpression is certainly a part of what artistry and communication is all about. However, selfexpression that successfully communicates is virtually impossible without a grounding in the
fundamentals and clear or contextual references to them.
Self-expression
Bonsai is defined in all kinds of ways by all kinds of people. One popular and effective definition
of bonsai is as a means of self-expression. Your individual working concept of bonsai will drive your
bonsai stylings and surely your own particular idiom will embody your artistic attempts. But if you are
ignoring the conventions of artistry, your work will come up short in its ability to communicate with
those who see it - other than yourself. Self-expression is impotent and largely irrelevant without a
common reference for conceptualizing your communication.
A silly example
Imagine meeting a gentleman at a party one evening. You say “hello,” and he responds with an
ear-splitting “PEEYOW!” Shocked, you ask if he is okay. “PEEYOW!” is his response. At this point you
politely excuse yourself and go find others to talk to. Yikes!
Now, this person is just happy and he uses PEEYOW! as his preferred means of expressing this
happiness. However, there is no common reference for just anybody to be able to grasp the
meaning. So, his expression is wholly irrelevant to those he meets.
Now, it is a common convention for happiness to be expressed by an exclamation of some kind,
but that exclamation is usually formed within the context of a commonly understood convention, like
the vocabulary of the relevant language (or the contextual understanding that the guy does not speak
English). Further, exclamations of happiness are usually bound within the context of social norms. In
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other words, communication is largely bound by basic conventions; widely recognized norms that are
readily understood by just about everybody.
Bear with me here…
Now, let’s apply self-expression to bonsai: Let’s say all of your bonsai have highly ramified
branches. You take pride in your skill in getting a densely ramified structure on all of your trees and
you believe that this defines your work. This is how you express your love of bonsai; the beautiful
silhouette formed by the fine tracery of shoots.
You can’t understand, however, why your friends
and fellow club members don’t like your work. They
don’t seem to understand that this is how you like
your trees to look.
Your friends say, “This is not how bonsai are
supposed to look,” but you’ve seen that all of the
bonsai in the best Japanese shows have this degree of
ramification! Why doesn’t anyone recognize that? You
love them, but why doesn’t anybody else?
The reason is that you’ve taken a specific,
beautiful characteristic of tree form out of context and
you’ve not used it in an artistic manner – in a
communicative manner. Yes, the ramification is well
developed and beautiful. However, the branch
structure that supports it is awful (as in the image
above). There may be great artistry used in the
formation of the fine shoots, but no artistry is used in
the formation of the trunk or the branches.
Furthermore, you don't use companion elements or formality when displaying your bonsai. This lack
of design integrity causes your work to fall flat.
This case is just like the one with the “PEEYOW!” guy. In each case, a basic convention has been
used out of context and the result is that few understand or find interest in the attempt to
communicate. No one finds interest or beauty in failed communication. At best, interest in these
kinds of attempts is because of their peculiarity.
Bonsai succeed or fail on the basis of their artistry. Good bonsai are the ones that speak to us,
the ones that are successful in communicating the artist’s message, the ones that are successful in
touching something within us. Learn to be more artistic with your bonsai work and you will be
learning to make better bonsai, with less chance of making of visual representations of "PEEYOW!"
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This is not the end
Well… actually it is the end of this book, but I hope that you will not consider this to be the end
of the discussion on the matters addressed here. The best parting advice I can offer you is:


Learn the language or artistry - its conventions, grammar, syntax.
Study art of all kinds. Seek to discover why certain examples of artistry work and why others
don’t work so well.
 Observe and study how various artists imbue their work with originality and daring while
maintaining communicative value.
 Stop thinking of bonsai design as rules-based and begin thinking of it as communicationbased (the conventions of artistry are references for how to communicate, not what to
communicate).
 Don't mistake natural for beautiful or evocative.
 Approach each design project with a specific aim.
 Describe and interpret, don't chronicle.
 Provide a specific point of view rather than a verbatim re-creation.
 Learn to think in terms of design integrity rather than design conventions.
 Don't sacrifice effective communication on the altar of self-expression.
Know that this book has been little more than an introduction to these ideas, conventions and
concepts. I sincerely hope that you will delve deeper into them in order to gain a more well-rounded
understanding.
Thanks for reading my little book. I hope you learned something and had some questions
answered. However, I hope especially that you now have many more questions than answers. Those
questions are gifts which, through your own research, will give you far more than a mere simple
answer ever could.
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Obsah
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
2
FOREWORD
2
PREFACE
3
ART = COMMUNICATION
3
CAVEATS
4
WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT
“RULES”
WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?
4
4
5
THE LANGUAGE OF ARTISTRY
5
WHAT IS GOOD BONSAI DESIGN?
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF ARTISTRY
LINE AND FORM
VERTICAL
PERPENDICULAR
SLANTED
HORIZONTAL
CURVED
ANGLED
ROUND
BASIC OBSERVATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS
COLOR
TEXTURE
5
6
6
6
7
8
9
9
11
12
12
14
14
BONSAI AESTHETICS
14
AIMS AND CHALLENGES
EMPHASIS
SOME EXAMPLES:
PERSONIFICATION IN ARTISTRY
SPECIES-SPECIFIC DESIGNS
14
14
15
18
18
CHALLENGES INHERENT IN BONSAI ART
21
LESSONS FROM LANDSCAPE PAINTING
NOW, BACK TO BONSAI
21
21
COMMUNICATING VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS
22
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SIZE
LEAN THE TREE FORWARD SLIGHTLY
BRANCH PROPORTION
PERSPECTIVE
SOMEWHAT EXAGGERATED TRUNK SIZE AND TAPER
AGE
DESCENDING BRANCH ANGLES
WELL-DEVELOPED SURFACE ROOT STRUCTURE
EXAGGERATED TRUNK GIRTH
OPEN FOLIAR STRUCTURE
A MORE VISIBLE STRUCTURE
SIGNS OF DAMAGE
ROUGH, CONSISTENT BARK (SPECIES SPECIFIC)
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY COMPANIONS
POTS
INDICATING A TREE GROWING IN A ROCKY CREVICE
INDICATING A TREE GROWING IN A WIDE MEADOW
INDICATING A WINDBLOWN PRAIRIE OR MOOR
INDICATING A FOREST HILL
MOSS
22
22
22
23
23
25
25
25
26
26
26
27
27
28
28
28
29
30
30
30
31
TOWARD MORE ARTISTIC DESIGN
32
NATURE’S IRRELEVANCIES
NON-NATURAL ELEMENTS OF BONSAI ARTISTRY
SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE
A TANGLED WEB
AS SIMPLE AS 1,2,3
CONCLUSION
32
33
33
33
34
36
ELEMENTS OF REFINEMENT AND DIRECTION
36
THE VIEWER'S PERSPECTIVE
AVOIDING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
POINT OF INTEREST
PHYSICAL FEATURES
COLOR AND CONTRAST
36
36
37
37
38
THE BADNESS
39
DISGUISING FLAWS
MISDIRECTION
39
39
DESIGN INTEGRITY
40
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
TREE COMPOSITION
PROBLEMS OF CONSISTENCY
40
40
42
52
INCONSISTENCY OF AGE AND STRENGTH:
INCONSISTENCY OF ENVIRONMENT
INCONSISTENCY OF IMPLIED AGE:
COMPOSITIONAL MISTAKES
TOUCHING TANGENTS
PLANTING POSITION ERRORS
SYMMETRY
PICKET FENCE PROPORTION
42
43
43
44
44
46
47
47
CONCLUSION
48
COMMUNICATION AND SELF-EXPRESSION
SELF-EXPRESSION
A SILLY EXAMPLE
BEAR WITH ME HERE…
THIS IS NOT THE END
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48
48
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50
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