JOHN HANBY NOTES #4 - "It's not working'
Posted: November 5th, 2009, 2:36 pm
It’s Not Working
John ended a very informative and entertaining day by implanting three words in my brain. ‘It’s not working’. I have been working on an olive for 1.5 years and while it is doing what I wanted it to do the magic wasn’t happening. John looked at the tree from all angles and simply stated – ‘It’s not working”. The bottom line was that the tree was never going to be anything with the extended branch plan I had in mind. It has now been severely cut back and I will have another year before I can start styling new growth and probably removing yet anther branch but I learned something really important. A tree must have a focal point and branches and foliage aren’t arranged just to hang nicely on the plant… they need to emphasise the focal point, to draw the eye to the focal point. John spoke of ‘mass’ where we use ‘foliage pads’ and it is good way of stating it. After massacring the olive I went over my benches and studied a number of other trees that ‘were not working’ and a lot of major pruning went on. It was a major setback to my plans for these trees but there’s no point in persevering with a bad plan – you only waste more time before you eventually come to the realisation. Better to do drastic things now.
John was somewhat in awe of our weather and the fact that the 1.5 year growth of a local bonsaied elm branch would take 4 years for the same development in his part of the world. He definitely envied our growing season.
It is ALWAYS a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to sit with an international Master to improve your eye and techniques.
John ended a very informative and entertaining day by implanting three words in my brain. ‘It’s not working’. I have been working on an olive for 1.5 years and while it is doing what I wanted it to do the magic wasn’t happening. John looked at the tree from all angles and simply stated – ‘It’s not working”. The bottom line was that the tree was never going to be anything with the extended branch plan I had in mind. It has now been severely cut back and I will have another year before I can start styling new growth and probably removing yet anther branch but I learned something really important. A tree must have a focal point and branches and foliage aren’t arranged just to hang nicely on the plant… they need to emphasise the focal point, to draw the eye to the focal point. John spoke of ‘mass’ where we use ‘foliage pads’ and it is good way of stating it. After massacring the olive I went over my benches and studied a number of other trees that ‘were not working’ and a lot of major pruning went on. It was a major setback to my plans for these trees but there’s no point in persevering with a bad plan – you only waste more time before you eventually come to the realisation. Better to do drastic things now.
John was somewhat in awe of our weather and the fact that the 1.5 year growth of a local bonsaied elm branch would take 4 years for the same development in his part of the world. He definitely envied our growing season.
It is ALWAYS a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to sit with an international Master to improve your eye and techniques.
Pup