Chris, thanks for the input, I will have a chat with the tree about that soon and keep an eye out for directional options in the future.
Brian, thanks for sharing your thoughts as well. I have to admit that regardless of my styling experience I don't actually feel that this tree was entirely ready to be styled itself. It still has a lot of very thin immature foliage that would be very difficult to wire out to all the tips. I think a better result would have been achieved by another season of selective pruning and foliage development prior to styling. I basically had a sudden desire to see if I could bring the foliage down and intertwined with the deadwood a bit and went from there, I blame it all on youtube
. Anyhow no regrets, I do find it more I interesting to look at now and nothing has been removed yet so options remain for the most part open.
I do have a number of others trees around that will be approached with a different attitude. Here's one for example, probably one of my best pieces of raw material for now. This one was repotted this spring, all the dense mountain soil is now removed. All I will do with this tree for the next while is try to maintain health and vigour and promote dense foliage and interior branching. I have a few ideas for styling but I do hope to have some qualified input into this tree before I do much to it myself.
Aaron, thanks for the support and encouragement. I will be trying very hard to free up more time during collecting season next year, excited for the future of Canadian bonsai!!