I started this project 10 years ago. For 9 years it remained as 6 unpainted 11×14″ canvas boards with a tree sketched onto them in pencil. They have been stacked in my art room, first in Gloucester, and then in Ipswich when I moved in with hubby <3
Last July [as in 2015] I finally dragged them out and painted 3 of the panels dark to represent twilight at the bottom moving up to night at the top:
Here are close-ups:
This past July I taped over the tree branches on the 3 remaining unpainted panels with green frog tape so I could paint the background with large strokes and avoid having to paint around the tree:
This past weekend I finally got around to painting the background of those 3 panels light, to represent sunrise at the bottom moving into daylight at the top. The first step was laying down contractor paper on the girl cave floor [I prefer painting larger things on the floor vs. my art table], then picking out the colors I wanted to use:
I started at the bottom of panel 1 with yellow, and mixed my way all the way through orange, pink, purple and into blue by the time I got to the top of panel 3:
Here’s all 3 in a row:
I ended up repainting panels 1 and 2 yesterday morning to merge the colors better, but I used the same colors. Once the paint was dry [acrylic doesn’t take long, a couple of hours] I carefully removed the green frog tape and lay them on the floor with the 3 dark panels:
Here’s the project so far, from start to not-quite-finished:
The next step will be painting the tree on the light panels metallic silver. I was going to use spray paint, which would mean taping over the entire background on those panels, which doesn’t sound fun. Abbie suggested I used silver leaf [brilliant!], and said I could borrow hers but I forgot to get it last time I was at her house. Since then I’ve done some research on silver leaf [well, mostly on gold leaf since it’s more popular] and discovered there is now “liquid leaf” which [in my opinion] would be an excellent option because I can paint it on instead of gluing/cutting/applying pieces of leaf. So I ordered some from Amazon [#affiliate] which hopefully will work great, otherwise I’ll be borrowing Abbie’s silver leaf:
Once the tree is silver on the light panels, I’ll be ALMOST done. I am so thrilled that I’ve felt motivated to finish the project after having it sit in my art desk [and in my brain] for 10 years!
What a cool piece of art! I even like it in the frog tape stage! I’m glad you are finishing it. I have had a large botanical painting in my head since high school. Wonder if it’ll ever see the light of day!
i liked it in the frog tape stage too lol! you should totally start – even just sketching it out on canvas is a good start! that’s how i started (10 years ago) but for the past decade i’ve had that sketched image in my head and finally knew how to move ahead 🙂
Only 10 years to finish a project — there’s hope for my laundry room. Another masterpiece completed – check. Good going. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
It’s not quite done yet, but almost. A few more finishing touches 🙂
This is a cool project. I especially like the nighttime frames.
me too! I have something cool planned for the daytime panels, which I’m excited to implement once the silver leaf arrives.
Can’t wait to see the finished tree…Luv, Dad
thanks dad!
Wow! That’s gorgeous already!
thanks! you should try painting again. you have a gorgeous view out your bedroom window!