Japanese Bonsai

Above is my Bonsai Tree depicted in two different ways.  I chose to draw my Bonsai Tree because I sense extreme beauty and craftsmanship in it.  I first focused on the contour line piece.  My initial goal was to simply "make it look like a bonsai".  After I successfully did this in my rough draft, I began experimenting with a burning mirror image.  I feel as though this metaphorical mirror image plays with the aspect of life and death.  My final draft of the contour line drawing is much stronger than the rough.  I decided to use two different sharpie markers: thin point and thick point.  The thin point was used for the branches and pot as the thick point was used for the trunk.  This adds a nice contrast to the piece. 

For the next drawing, I chose to experiment with horizontal, parallel lines.  I feel as though the boldness of the trunk allows for a very interesting base of the tree.  I also tried to incorporate some texture in the trunk by adding small horizontal lines in circular fashion within the bold bark of the tree.  The variation in line thickness in this one stands out much more.  The horizontal lines cause a sense of abrupt change as if it was engraved into the paper.  Overall I feel as though I successfully depicted the bonsai in two different, yet similar fashions.