AusBonsai

I think this is literati but as me and Pup came to blows over this tree he might throw it out anyway.
Again one of my first trees and still alive Ya!
I enjoyed learning to carve on this tree and liked it more as the carving progressed unti I lost the deawood roots. Then I was a bit lost as to what to do. I thought of grafting saplings onto the base to get some taper back. I was very happy to see that Peter Adams had other ideas. I really like the old half dead looking apricots so I liked the idea that I could turn this Japanese Hornbeam (Carpinus japonica) into that style.

Cor ya got me reading 42 PM's now ya want some advice its too early in the morning.

There is no reason why not we have to stop thinking only Conifer's. Just look at our own tree's there are some splendid Gum tree's that are natural Bunjingi.
I think by now we will also note that I refer to the style as Bunjingi. So I will stop putting ( literati ) in brackets and just use one term.
Bunjingi what ever the tree

As I said too early in the morning for this old Grump. We would never come to blow's, I'd shoot ya, but I'd do it with a lot of love

I picked up an untrained stock tree yesterday that I'm planning on using. It should lend itself fairly well to the style. It will by no means be the best, but I'm sure I'll learn alot and have fun!! And that's the main thing!!
^-^

PS I won't put it up yet cause we're not at the submission date yet.

Great Nathan. This thread is an attempt to keep the competition thread a bit cleaner so it is like a brainstorming thread I spose. You don't have to put it here but it may help you get feedback if you do.
I hope this is not about the best but it will be great to see the development of all stock types I think.

I'm in as well, got a pine that has a strange looking base and has heaps of candles, could be something... though it might take a lot longer than the competition duration =S In which I might counter by entering another tree
Woo.

yeh boomy i have the same problem my tree is a pine aswell and i get the feeling it may take longer then the comp allows but we will see hopefully i dont kill it by over fertilising trying to push the little taker to the limit.

How fast do you think my hornbeam grows in our heat

so can i just take some pics of my stock tree and start work on my tree now??

haha i have spair time right now and am itchin to be styling something haha. i might just go find something else to work on

Still about 11 days before we can start work 1st of November.

Did we work out if twin trunk or Mother and child trees are eligible or was i asleep at the time?

bod- i am pretty sure that if the tree has the characteristics of bunjingi then it should be sweet!! thats my understanding

jamie

Multiple trunks are fine I believe as long as they are simple in line and conform to the general ideas of what constitutes literati/bunjin.
Ain't this excitin' guys and dolls?

'Givitago' is thinking of submitting an imaginary tree of his own.

Thats a good point Bodi. I was thinking although we have had further discussion on this behind the scenes. We haven't explored it enough here yet.
I was surprised that Deborah states in her book that alot of the forms of what we know as literati is not technically traditional literati.
This is part of what she wrote in Bonsai It's Art Science, History and philosophy.

First it is a single trunk" "The trunk may be straight curved or angular, but it must taper and if it is not straight, the line must move in three dimensions to give depth to the design. One half to three quarters of the trunk should be bare of branches and the branches themselves should be few in number and usually short in proportion to the height of the tree....

She then goes on to state that as time passed the masses started to create literati and variations resulted some degraded the style and others where quite beautiful. Some of these forms are Gnarled trunk with jin and deadwood, Angular literati style(exaggerated curves) Literati with bowed head(apex is trunk bending down), cascade literati. two setting tree, group setting.

Here are a couple of examples of what I think most would call great literati but by Deborah's studies they are technically not traditional Literati.
This is my favourite all time literati and probably the tree that got me so interested in literati. It looks so fragile yet it gives a presence of standing the test of time. But as the apex is made by the trunk and the foliage bowing after it is a variation of the traditional trees of the literati men. This is another exceptional Literati I think. but it would have to fit into the Angular literati style(exaggerated curves) by Deborah's definition which again is not Traditional form. I would love to show the drawings of examples that Deborah has in her book but knowing how tightly they protect their copyrights I better not

So I feel it is understandable that even the most experienced bonsai practitioners would have different views on what is true literati.
So it is beneficial to understand what the judges will accept as Literati.
I don't think we are restricting any form but I get the feeling that Pup may not score cascade very high
But I will let the guys explain their stance in any detail.