Project #14

Winter Trees

 

I must be missing my first home...again. This project reminds me of the winters in upstate NY. The aspen or birch trees (can't remember which is which, pretty sure it is birch), with it's peeling bark; seemed to glow in the moonlight. This picture takes me back there to so many wonderful wintry memories.

 

I hope you enjoy painting these wintry trees.They would be great gifts. The more you do, the better they turn out.

 

 

Materials:



Water colors or acrylic paints-

          navy or admiral

          black

          white

painter's tape or masking tape

chunky and thin (comes-to-a-point) brush

coarse sea salt (optional)

cup for water

paper towels

styro plate (or the like)

thick paper (I used bristol)

spray bottle of water set to mist

        

I am going to insert pictures from another site, her pictures are useful for a visual of the steps:

 

 



 

 

 

1. Tape the boarder of the paper.

 

 

 

2. Tear or cut pieces of tape and shape them into trees.

     I used the rough edges of the torn tape for the outer edges of the tree. Begin with a larger base and get more narrow as you go up the page. I used a LOT of little pieces to build up the trees...

 

3. Seal the edges of the tape by pressing and rubbing firmly.

    Do this for the entire picture.

 

 

 

 

4. Use watered-down blue paint for the background.

    I used acrylic, so these are the directions for that: Water down the blue paint on your plate to be like water colors. You could also make a mixture of watered down paint in a small cup. Brush this onto the paper, brushing the entire surface; over the tape. Keep the brush very wet.

    Add a tiny bit of black and brush at the edges, bottom and shadow side of the trees. Very little, and remember to keep the brush very wet.

    

5. Sprinkle the painting with coarse sea salt.

    If the painting is not wet, use a spray bottle to mist the surface before sprinkling the salt.

    

 

 



6. Let project dry.

    When the paint is completely dry, carefully peel back the tape of the trees and brush off the salt. Keep the boarder tape on. Dry time can take hours. I used a hair dryer to speed up the process.

 



7. Adding detail.

    Add more detail by using the watered-down blue. Mix in a little black and more water to this for shadowing along the edges of the untaped trees (using the thin brush). This is the side opposite the moon.  Don't forget the oppisite sides of the branches. Then use a more concentrated color (less water) to make brush strokes horizontally on the trees. You could put a stroke or two on the edge of the moon, also.

 

 

 

 



8. White dots.

     Use the white to add specs throughout your painting. Use the tip of your pointed brush or the end of either brush to dip into the white and dot with an upright brush. That means the brush is perpendicular to the painting.

 

 

 

9. Take off the boarder.

     Pull the tape off parallel to the table, very slowly, so not to tear the paper.

 

 

How does it look?

 

I really enjoyed this one.

 

I did one using small tears of tape to form the trees and branches. Then I tried one with bigger pieces of tape that I cut. I think I like the small bits better. I like where the paint bled thru and the paper tore (because I was too impatient to wait for the paper to dry completely)! Did you notice that I forgot the moon in the one on the left???

 

 

 



 

 

I will be doing one more project and than taking a break until next year, probably starting back up on January 7. I hope that you enjoy this Christmas season. These projects may help to cure TNTD's ("There's nothing to do")...

 

Blessings to you and your family,

Mrs. Hayes