. The Seiju Elm was the one I'd really struggled to get my head around as far as style direction. With it's large trunk, formal upright was always on the the cards, however I'd also toyed with the idea of making it into a raft (in mid-air) with the trunk representative of a cliff (not really traditional in terms of style). So when I asked Craig, I was relieved to here similar two options presented (I was on the right track), and soon after agreed that formal upright was the right direction. The major thing I learnt from Craig whilst working on this tree was about diverting from energy strong branches to weaker branches, via shortening or even removal (especially stronger branches higher up).
The other was an Atlantic Cedar, slanting I had started to do some wiring to it, however again I wasn't 100% confident on the direction I had started to take. After Craig's assessment he asked me to think about what environmental conditions would cause a) the truck to be slanting and b) how the braches would be effected in their growth ... the conclusions resulted in rewiring, accommodating the thoughts that branches facing the 'wind' result in tighter, compact structuring, and the more 'protected' branches have a more flowing habit with the 'wind'.
Both trees are still fairly 'bare bones' (especially the Seiju Elm which now needs to recover and re-establish growth, can't wait 'til spring
) but I am happy that they now have a strong plan/direction in place. The Atlantic Cedar needs a bit more detailed wiring, but sickness got the better of me this week (hence the delayed post). So both the photos are progress only. While the above two techniques/considerations would be second nature to most experienced bonsai practitioners, they are fundamental to properly structured bonsai, understanding these more now, I feel often they are overlooked or not emphasised strongly enough when discussing 'the basics' in tree design.
Workshops are definitely a great way to learn more techniques, as well as re-affirming the basics, providing inspiration and motivation.
I'd like to thank Craig Wilson for his warm hospitality, time, and passing on his experience in the form of both a strong direction for my trees, but also for reinforcing genuinely useful, fundamental bonsai information.
Thanks,
Ryan
Ryan, great to see you enjoying yourself and able to receive great advice from Craig. I love your work mate but i struggle to see the Seiju as a formal upright tree, my understanding is a Formal upright should have a bolt straight trunk, almost perfectly placed radial branching and root spread, most likely an Informal upright but whatever the case i'm looking forward to following it's progress , cheers for posting 
