First styling on a CA Juniper

I guess by now everyone realizes I have a fondness for CA Junipers. I think they are some of the finest wild material available for bonsai in this country. They usually have very dramatic deadwood, the result of hundreds of years growing in high desert mountains.  Because of the growing conditions they can  sometimes get some amazing shapes in the trunks. Very often the combination of weather and insects create unbelievably incredible sculptures of the trunks.
This juniper was collected in Lancaster, CA in January 2007. I planted it in this pot right away. For the last few years it has just  been watered and fertilized and pretty much nothing else. The tree has very  interesting natural deadwood. There are several things about this tree that make designing a bonsai from it difficult.
First off all the branches pretty much come from the same place on the trunk and are pretty small. They are going to have to be moved around to create the foliage pads.

Also the best view and inclination of the trunk doesn't show the lifeline at all.

After cleaning up the trunk I decided on this as the front.

It has interesting movement and balance, also the lifeline is clearly visible. I had to remove some of the jin at the top of the trunk some I could bring the apex forward , then I needed to wire every branch so that I could place them in position in such a way that they look like they are on different levels.

After wiring and positioning the branches I cleaned the life line and deadwood with water and here is the result. The upper right side will take a little while to fill in but all things considered I'm pleased with the results. This coming spring I will repot the tree into a rough textured round pot.

Here is the result after todays work.

I hope you enjoyed todays project. I welcome any comments or suggestions for future posts.