What are the basic skills of bonsai creation?
The creation of bonsai is mainly a process of shaping the object through insights gained by observing the beauty inside and outside natural objects, and with the help of clever processing techniques for carving and branch training, so that it achieves greater beauty and ornamental value without violating the laws of nature.
Potted plants are exquisite products combining nature with human wisdom, making their own forms more natural than nature and achieving an artistic effect of beauty upon beauty. At the same time, they seek a shared individual beauty from various tree forms, and through summarising and organising them, make them more idealised, gathering beauty into various shapes. Today the editor will introduce to you the basic skills of bonsai creation.
1. Appreciate and cultivate beauty
The creation of bonsai is based on the forms of natural tree species, so in ordinary times one should pay more attention to observing the appearance of trees in nature, especially their structural characteristics. Comparing observations, experiences or insights with one's own potted plants is very helpful for improving bonsai creation skills, and can also cultivate the aesthetic ability of bonsai creators.
Through repeated observation and appreciation, reflection and summary, creators can gradually develop a mature set of production techniques. With long-term accumulation of experience and improvement and innovation, from imitation to originality, from unfamiliarity to proficiency, one can certainly create excellent bonsai works.
2. Create spatial beauty
Potted plants are an embodiment of a miniature of nature, and they make beauty more concentrated and prominent, even expressing beauty through formless form, but it is also necessary to cleverly create blank space artificially to make it appear more vivid. This is an extremely important creative technique in bonsai creation.
In many common deciduous tree potted plants, their important branches and trunks are usually hidden, leaving no space for expression. Such bonsai works cannot evoke associations of beauty, nor do they have a sense of the existence of beauty. Because the potted plant itself is a reduced expression effect and an embodiment of its life, by presenting blank space it can be expressed more concretely, omitting unnecessary parts and making it as “simple” as possible, so that so-called beauty can be emphasised.
3. Plan the shaping
Because the process of turning a potted plant into a bonsai involves a living subject, the higher the creative requirements, the more difficulties are faced. Therefore, before creating a bonsai, one should first understand the growth condition of the potted tree, the development of branches and leaves, and the flexibility of the branches, and then design a creation plan and implement it according to the plan.
In the process of bonsai creation, we need to shape the tree in combination with its growth state. Through long-term observation and research, one can naturally create vivid works full of charm and extraordinary bearing.
4. Adjust tree vigour at the right time
Although potted plants have relatively small tree forms, they can also reflect the image of a large tree. The value of shaping a potted plant lies in making it into a majestic or graceful form, so that people can feel its majestic posture and beauty at a glance.
In order to create a good shaping effect, it is necessary to prevent the plant's top shoots from constantly growing upwards wildly, and making the lower branches and trunk near the root system grow thicker is one of the key points of shaping. Once the tree form is determined and then heavily pruned, making the trunk grow thicker is very difficult to achieve; similarly, when the branches and trunk have grown too thick, it is also very difficult to prune or bend them. Therefore, we should carry out pruning, bending and other shaping treatments in good time according to the tree's growth.
5. Conceive the tree form with care
Before shaping the tree, we should carefully examine the tree body, find its individual characteristics, especially its advantages and disadvantages, and correct the shortcomings in good time. But in the shaping process, one must not be too impatient; operations should be carried out only after the design plan is determined.
In the shaping art of tree bonsai, some invisible beauty is often hidden, faintly visible among the branches and leaves, carrying a certain depth, and only then can the style of the bonsai be formed. Therefore, only by understanding the form and growth laws of the whole tree and then conceiving it cleverly can one provide a correct reference basis for shaping.
6. Determine the front before shaping
Correctly judging and determining the front of the bonsai tree is half the success of creating a bonsai work. When observing the tree material, the most important thing is to correctly identify from all sides the tree appearance and posture the tree is meant to express, find the side with the largest exposed roots, and make sure the branches and trunk look smooth, highly fluid, richly varied, and able to avoid the best position of the wound. Then continuously adjust the angle, highlight the exposed roots and branches and trunk from the whole, and make them harmonious and unified with the tree form and tree appearance to be expressed.
After scientifically and reasonably determining the front, carefully observe the other parts, such as changing branches and the direction in which the trunk extends. But in order to achieve the best point-selection effect, it is necessary to observe from multiple angles, discover as many strong points as possible, and at the same time make up for shortcomings, deficiencies or inappropriate aspects.
7. Expression of beauty and focal points
The beauty of a bonsai tree in its pot is mainly expressed through two aspects: “emphasis” and “exaggeration”. Emphasis means unitising the complex tree form, cutting away branches that are unnecessary or even affect the shaping, freeing up more extension space for other branches, highlighting the focal part to be expressed, and then harmonising the unitised parts into a unified overall beauty.
Exaggeration is the creator conveying the intention he wants to express to the viewer, making the viewer resonate, and at the same time concentrating the viewer's visual experience on certain points.