Honestly, I would never consider a pine to be easy for beginners. I have spent the last 10 years working with them and I am just beginning to feel comfortable with their seasonal care. For me, a good tree for a beginner is a juniper. They are heat and cold tolerant and are very forgiving (to a point) when one might be too aggressive using the techniques like wiring and pruning we apply to our trees. Phillip, I believe that the Atlanta Bonsai Society generally has a beginners workshop in January where the basics of repotting and wiring are discussed. At the workshop I attended several years ago, there were small junipers available for any new person to work on during the meeting. I would look into that, and I would probably try to restrain yourself from obtaining any more material, at least for now. Come to more meeting and listen to the guest artists and the more experienced members. At yesterdays meeting, Ryan Neil was FANTASTIC. He critiqued members trees, which ranged from young, unworked nursery stock, to collected 500 year old material. He discussed styling, proper techniques and horticultural care for specific species in extreme depth, and explained WHY. Everyone there, regardless of experience, came away knowing more then they did previously.