I have a totally different view on all this. I have heard at least a dozen people tell this guy to get a mentor, seek a club, join a study group, watch video's.
I would like to ask a question. Is there anyone here of these people or any of those not so inclined to post that could show a before and after of maybe five years and what the mentors, and video's and study groups have done for you. I have listened to dozens of people on this site tell of the wonderful video's of Ryan, and Bjorn and whomever is the flavor of the month, yet I never see any work nor any work improve. If watching video's is such a great thing why don't we have some really great trees floating at this site?
I'll tell you why, because while mentors and video's are good for a day, they don't give you any help for the next tree. If they did, we should see pages of great bonsai here. We don't. I am the 32 poster in this thread and so far there has not been one picture of a tree, not one. This is where I was three years ago and this is what a workshop did for me, or look at what I was able to do to my crappy tree after that video.
If a person wishes to get better, then post the pictures. Post the pictures with the attitude that your tree is shitty. You know it's gonna receive flack. Take the criticism, use the criticism. Do what was told to you to do. Don't have an attitude that I'm going to do this workshop and then blow off everything you were told because you wish to do it your way.
You wish to get a good at bonsai, you have to spend money. Want to tie flies like a pro, have to spend the money. Want to bake like a pro, have to spend the money. You say you want to be better at wiring, let me give you a little clue. Buy about 30 nana junipers. Buy a two kilo roll of each wire. Just use aluminum, you can bend most anything on a nana with Al.
Take a before photo of each one. Wire it and take another picture. Move to the next one. bend the things to within an inch of their life. You have to spend the money to get the practise. Your going to spend about 300.00 on wire and about 300.00 on material. You will learn more than 600.00 worth of workshops and classes combined. Why, cause you will do it 30 times and learn something on every tree you do. After you complete the trees, hopefully you have kept some sort of sequence so you know what you did to the first one, and how the thirtieth one looks. You now have 30 styled junipers, sell them off if you wish, give them away as gifts, whatever.
Next year, you may wish to prune them back in the spring and take off all the wire and do it all again. You prune and style and wire 60 trees and you will see how much you improve. You don't need no mentor, you don't need no workshop, you don't need no video. what you need to do is get your butt outside and work over trees, by the assembly line.
I have taken workshops many times in the last 35 years. I haven't taken any in the last seven or so. I was just so tired of hearing the same crap over and over. All the basics again, how to water, etc, etc. There are many here that will disagree. That's OK. Your ace in the hole is always "show me your trees".
"Everyone is born with a big mouth, but few are born with talent". ak
In the end, if you see no improvement by tree thirty, then maybe bonsai is not for you. I can show anyone how to style "one" tree. Thats easy, but thirty trees, you will learn something. Then, after all that, go out and buy the better piece of stock equipped now with the confidence of styling 30 trees. You will attack that material with a vengeance. It will be so easy you will wonder why everyone makes this seem so hard. It isn't.
This juniper below I did in 2003. It was for a styling contest at BonsaiTALK. I did 5 of them and decided on this one. It was the last one. Walter Pall was the judge. I came in second. I gave away a custom stand as the prize. TreeBeard won. I wonder what he is doing now?
