Alberta spruce

Hi! I've been reading this forum for a while now and have found it very inspiring. I'd like to share one of my trees that I worked on this year. It is an Alberta Spruce, which I now know is not the best for bonsai, but I have been using it to practice on. It is the only tree I have that I have styled, and I was hoping for some input. I feel I did a fairly decent job. Thanks for looking.



Here is a picture of it when I bought it back in april. It looked like all the other Alberta spruce at Walgreens that day.

Hi Bran. You've got the right idea with the downswept branches but what happened to the top? I would carefully try and lift one of the top front branches to make a new top to the tree.

Like this?

Thats better, but. I was thinking more along the lines of a new leader[ straight up]. let it grow for a couple of years, to make a better transition in the taper. Be careful about any further bending in the near future as the top has been bent every which way and you might kill it.

Ah I see. I'll just stop futzing with it and leave it alone then. Thanks for the advice.