New England Bonsai - the Sierra Juniper part 4

On Sunday, March 25 the styling was continued. While Christine still wired most of the finer branches I edited the deawood much more. On the trunk I found parts where obviously the bark was dead and I brushed it off to reveal deadwood. It was too smooth and I worked with a small Dremel bit to get some structure. Then I worked with the large wire brush again to take out the hand of man. It is quite difficult to make credible artifial deadwood next to some which is for real and many hundred years old.
Then in the end all the branches were adjusted. Here the end result for the time being. The first one is my preferred front. But there are many possible fronts in this tree as one can see. I believe that such a tree must look credible from all sides. It is up to the designer to offer a few good looking fronts and it is the task of the viewer to find his best one. This absolutely does not have to be the same as the artists's.
The crown may seem too large for some. Well I believe that a crown must be in good proportion to the trunk in terms of optical weitht. Optical weight is not only decided by the outline of the crwon. It is also decided by the density and color of the foliage. A crown with a larger outline and little foliage can have the same optical weight as as a smaller one with dense foliage.
A great trunk like this one should have a crwon that reflects the old age. The crown must never be too full.
At the end of such a demonstration or styling one usually says 'now the green has to fill in and it will take many years to look right'. With this particular stlyling I believe it is done already. The crown should never become denser than this. It might even loose some green here and there. This will also make the tree presentable almost immediately. If it were in the right pot one could show it very soon. An old tree like this one should never be repotted right after styling. I think spring of 2008 would be just the right time. The juniper wants a rather shallow, round pot, possibley a drum pot.