Juniper Blaauw prebonsai material strikes a pose

This little nursery tree has been with me approx 2 1/2 years, slowly getting worked here and there until I felt it was time to move into a 'training' pot that I specifically created for it some time back.  It's a good 8-10 years from being presentable in any fashion however I like it's deadwood areas and trunk movement - again another 'training' tree for me of a juniper species, with deadwood to play with..  If the green survives and can pad out as I've wired, it could in the future be an interesting tree to view.

'The Log' training pot I made in 2009 for this tree.  Things have come a long way on all fronts (pottery and bonsai skills, as well as application of said abilities, thank goodness). 

Signed it and threw in a 'bonsai' in Japanese on the left.  Plenty of drainage on this one all the way down the center.

 Lots of new growth, the living veins on both sides of the deadwood are quite healthy.  Species is 'Juniperus chinensis blaauw' sometimes called 'blue juniper' due to it's tint of blue, which becomes very obvious during the cold months,

The trunk looks rough, it will get cleaned up some soon.   Poor tree is begging for some good soil (here it comes, 40% crushed lava rock, 40% fired clay particle, 20% sharp builder sand).

 Reduced, repotted, deadwood cleaned up slightly just so I can identify it better (carving still to really be done).  Still looking for the front.

Another angle before work begins.  Hmmm..  Still not showing a good front - but I think I know where it is now after a few spins. 

After thinning and wiring, I believe this is the front; with a slight turn to the right from here.. 

This will become the back. Now I'm starting to see 'someone' in this pose the tree is striking, can you guess who it is yet?   :)

Close-up of the 'front', you can see the deadwood decently on the trunk here after a slight clean-up.  Now that I have my front, I will carve into this side some to help with the taper and to blend better into the living veins, at the end of this season.

Had thought about going literati if I took the top off, it's still an option I suppose.  Here's a view w/o the top to get an idea.  I would bend the bottom right branch back 'up' some and get it slightly back above the main trunk chop line.

Another angle.  Once the guy wired branch becomes stable, I will add a bit more movement in the bottom to follow the lines of the trunk.  I sort of like this angle, gives the tree a sort of 'Travolta' pose going on..  :)

Another direction w/o the top if I went literati style down the road.   Travolta w/o his left hand?   Maybe I should keep the top and form it like this if nothing but for the discussion the pose could bring?  :)

I think this is the front for now.  A view if I left the top off and went literati.

Yep, time to set it aside in the shade for a month or so to allow the roots to take off, then out into full sun for the summer.  I think this tree has earned it's name, 'Travolta' for sure take a look here to see the pose in action!

A few things in the garden

Just a few pictures from the garden - all pre-bonsai material and 'experimental' stages for me.  I'm enjoying the learning process!

A row of mostly trident maples in 2gal pots - these all have a future in a large forest I'm planning for them.  Further to the left is a American Elm, a large privet with a good nebari cut very low, and a 'rose of sharon' near the end.   Near the bottom you can see plant markers - I'll show my seedling progress next week, but so far - doing really, really well.  I planted numerous things - and am getting numerous results!

A close up of the left side of the left garden.  Can see a few large privet trunks, a Maple forefront left, and still not sure quite what the heck it is in center but it's interesting, so I'm working on it until I can see the leaves better this year to identify. 

This tree fooled me.  I thought I'd brought home a really large Sweetgum Maple in the middle of winter, but this turns out to look like it's a paperbark birch instead.  Which is exciting as it's doing really well, and is at the point where it should begin ex-foilating bark in the next few years!   You can see numerous buds up and down on the wood - it's coming to life.

Right side of the garden, more 2gal pots with some Junipers far right, some jap maples center, and more tridents on the left.  In the ground - are about 100 trident maples, a row of jap maples, a row of assorted local specimens (crepe myrtle, elm, birch), and some sweetgum maples far right.   These, are my future trees to play with many years to come.  Some will go into big 3-5gal pots, many will go into the ground in other places for 'wild' growth growing, and some will just be used as trees in the yard!  (Tridents are beautiful, with 

great colors in fall from yellow to orange to red!)

Good find - now what?

Found a species and a bush that I don't normally see here in the southeast, but I see and hear about all the time from West Coast bonsai'ers.   San Jose Juniper!   Take a look at what I started with and also where I am now - not sure where to take it from here (either way, alot of bigger branches will need to be bent).   I'm thinking I may take this to the Warren Hill bonsai class I'm attending later this month at Plant City Bonsai - to see what sort of ideas others could give me.

So you can see what I started with - pretty healthy tree - what you can't see until you move some branches, is the very nice trunk that it has.

Lots of possibilities to my eye - It needed a trimming bad, but I left enough branches for selection down the road.    Any insight from other bonsai artists would be appreciated.  There are alot of techniques I will need to use on this tree to get it where I'd like it that I really need to practice first before I apply to this one. (Raffa/wire bending of big branches, and some Jin carving here and there).  Really excited about this considering the age/girth/price I paid for the material.

Would love to hear your ideas about where to take it at this point.