Shohin display

Balancing the display - in three steps

Photos by Higuchi Takeshi (C)

Text and illustrations performed by Morten Albek (C)

1  It is very important to place the trees with the right movement. Every tree will have a movement, and by cascades it is very obvious in what direction they points.

Use the trees with the clearest movements, to bring the trees together, by pointing them into the centre of the arrangement. Trees with a loser form, or with less movement, are used to make the scenery calmer, and making smaller hints of directions.

The movements have to be made with coolness, if not to be too dominating and overdone. It is all a matter of making balance in the composition.

At the drawing you can see which trees that have to point towards each other.

2  The second step is to arrange the display table and secondary tree (according to the selected display at the picture). The scalene triangle is an important tool to bring in natural balance in both bonsai and display.

If the main tree in this composition, the Black Pine, was placed in the centre of the composition, it would look very unnatural and without the right balance.

It is exactly the same as making balance in a photograph or painting. Never place the main object in the middle.

3  A third balancing matter is the empty spaces. They bring at foremost, calmness into the display area. Empty spaces are very important, because they will also make balance between the filled area and the empty area.

Also look how the empty space is placed with fine balance according to the active elements.