Hey
@Eckhoffw i see the start and I can see a tree in there. But I’m about to give you some honest constructive criticism so be advised. At the point you’ve stopped, youve done about 15% of the work needed to set this tree up for a future. You’ve really got to commit to the design and the time it takes to wire out the secondary branching. I see this often in nursery junipers on here. Cut some branches, jin a few. Wire a few and call it good. It’s not near enough, and still just looks like a shrub. You could easily spend 2-3 plus hours just detailing this tree, to not only set it up for its future but to also give you something nice to look at right now. All while removing a safe amount of foliage to keep it alive into next season.
If it were mine I would.
use this angle.
View attachment 451205
Wire that primary trunk the same as the secondary and introduce movement that mirrors a bit the movement in the secondary trunk.
you have this primary trunk and what could be considered a secondary trunk but just be your defining branch.
Start at the lowest most branch and Wire out all of those little side shoots off the primary trunk and the secondary trunk/defining branch and pull them down and out, making sure each branch has good continuity with the one above it and below, while also making sure you have branching that radiates all the way around the trunk, not just movement to the left and right. Don’t create a 2d image. When your done you should be able to spin the tree on a turn table and have a nice even distribution of branches all the way around.
wire all the way to the tips if you have small enough wire.
When that secondary trunk/defining branch, look at it almost as a second set of branches that need to flow from the primary trunk branches. Down and to the right. That’s your movement. Stick to it.
the apex will be tricky. And it’s a bit tricky to explain a good method. Essentially the top most growing tip, gets wired down and is circled around the top, using the 2nd through 5the branchlet to round out the top and the 6th maybe 7th branchlet down, now becomes the new top most leader.
once you have everything wired you’ll start to see potential other jins to make. Don’t be afraid to remove more branches to balance the design, even if it’s already wired. May also be an opportunity to creat a spiraling Shari as the years move on.
I’m going to do a little sketch that you can use as a template if you’d like, but no biggie if you don’t.
From this point I decided to Jin the left branch and go for a more asymmetrical /semi windswept look.
