It's A Family Affair!

I was given the task of completing a family tree drawng for my friend/coworker. It's to be a birthday present for her father. When she gave me the drawing, it was on a piece of white fabric and only had the trunk and branches of the tree drawn, with the names written on each branch. It was in pencil, and it was my job to paint the tree, and give it some life. Sooo, I tried to imagine what the end result of the tree should look like, and since it was a Family tree, I knew that it had to bloom with life! My favorite tree is the Magnolia, with it's beautiful, full blooming flowers. I'm an "earth tone" kind of girl, so mixing the paints to get the different shades of orange was quite fun. Magnolias bloom mainly in the South, so if you ever get the opportunity to see them, you'll know instantly!

Now, I'm not an artist by any means, but I don't do too bad free hand. So, I decided to extend the branches and draw in my "version" of magnolias freehand. She gave me total cart blanche, so it was easy for me to create. The only difficult part was using a spot brush to outline everything, paint the names, paint around the names in a different color, and then fill in the various areas of color where the regular brush wouldn't fit. I don't smoke, but a cigarette may have been useful after that tedious task! Nonetheless, I love the details, so it didn't bother me to sit and go over each area with the spot brush. When I was done, I had it framed for her. My only concern was if she'd like the finished product since she did give me free reign......... Well, she did! I was happy to know she loved it and was glad for the challenge. So, thank you Dana, for the challenge, and for your patience!!!

I think it came out pretty decent. What do you think? Well, until my next post......