Peter was in charge of the August club meeting, and topic was Bonsai design basics.
There was a brief talk about the different Bonsai styles, and what influences your choice of design. i.e. the species of tree and how certain techniques effects them, which in turn determines how the style.

A practical session then followed involving everyone splitting off into groups of 4-5 people, and given a drawing pad and pencils. Each group was then given some raw material, and asked to discuss among themselves the potential options and then draw/sketch on the pad. After a while each raw material tree was rotated onto the next group until all groups had seen each tree.

At the end all groups discussed their concepts, and explained what could be removed by using a cloth to hide certain areas of the tree.
Some groups mostly agreed on some trees, and then other trees had vastly different concepts presented by the groups, which made for a great learning experience.