Dear Vance, sorry for the critique, I was just expecting to read more about positive and negative aspects of the tree.
The overall image of the tree is quite nice, but as I pointed out it has some details that does compete with the story. Usually a great and I mean a "great" bonsai does tell a story, the story might be different to each viewer as well as the felling it provokes, that's why it is an art after all. No one can tell you what to feel that part is personal but as an art you must feel something and if you look closely there is a story the tree is telling. However with this tree I feel a competition of stories, one that of a tall tree (this is due to the nicely space between the branches) and another the story of what has been done to the tree (usually we don't want to see or know this story) if you can trace back and see what branches have been cut, what has been wired and position and what has been carved etc this let you see that the tree is not yet ready. One begins to see the story of the tree more on what has been done to it than what the tree tries to show. As for the "rules" they obviously do not need to apply to get a great tree. For example, for me Peter Chan famous mountain Maple is quite a good masterpiece, it is not particular a thick tree, and it does not follow the typical rules, however the overall image is great, one cannot find the story of what has been done to the tree. One of the reasons we don?t see many great Japanese maples is because they take a long time to heal (although not so much with trident maples). One can see Bill Valanies maple that he got from Yuji, a long time ago, it is doing great, and still will need a few more years to go, but that's part of this art, to enjoy the process and to learn from nature so we can evoke this in our trees. In Japan we can find some great Maples but usually not for sale and one has to go to privet collections. Also unlike conifers Maples required a bit more attention to keep in good shape. Obviously there are many plus for maples, just to enjoy the changes it provides a great joy. Also there are several species and hundreds of varieties. But from the bonsai point of view there are few. I just wished I could grow them in the tropics as I used to do back in the UK.
Best wishes
Enrique
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