Graydon

Here's my take Al, for what it's worth. (note - same post as in the face the elders thread)

First the stand - it's not working in my opinion - however I'll be the first to admit I don't know the rules of display. I would think that the tree would look better on a less refined and more rustic display fixture. I would also not center the pot on the stand. Nice stand though.

As far as the tree - are you presenting the front in this shot? I ask as the stand is not square to the camera so I assume the tree is not as well. That may effect my next few points. I like the shari and the left hand jins. The right jin seems to conflict with the branch above it - I would like negative space between the foliage pads and jin. I would consider working the shari up and to the left to include the bottom left jin - as if the lowest left branch gave way under tremendous weight and tore it's self off taking the bark to the base.

More refinement on the pads would be nice. The apex is a little soft but that may be corrected with some wiring details. Again - I would contemplate removal of some of the conflicting branch on the right or perhaps just cleaning it up with some wiring.

It's kind of hard to point out everything with just one shot, and not a very high resolution one at that.

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