Birch Trees..."My kids did that?"



We did remove the white splotch before mom saw it....



 Oh, my dear friend, "K", how I love you and your kids.    This mom was redecorating her living room and had a vision for her wall art.   She sent me images of birch trees and had color ideas in mind as well.   We talked about size and decided to go with a large 3 ft by 3 ft canvas,  so we skipped the thrifting this time and ordered a brand new canvas to meet our needs.   Next, I painted it charcoal and then, drawing on inspiration from some birch tree images, I made a loose sketch of tree outlines.    Then, my Little Picassos arrived.  

Creating this art project was so great!   "H" and I looked at our inspiration image and talked about what colors and shapes we saw in the trees.   Then, we started painting.   "H" followed my directions and put a light coat of white in various spots on the canvas.  I'm sorry I didn't take pics of the process!  I'm still learning too!   After her first coat, she went back over it and thickened it to make them really stand out, then I mixed up some grays.   I showed her some brush stroke techniques and we talked about how to make knobs on the trees and add more definition....then, I pointed out areas for her to shade.   After shading, we counted knobs of trees and looked at about where they were, and then she painted the knobs.  I would go over her knobs with a foam brush to soften them and add a little dimension.   Once we had the trees done, we hung it up on the wall and all gasped!  

The kids' reaction:

"Wow!  They look so real!"  

Watching the excitement in my artists' faces is a true joy.   We then added a few background trees in gray, and called in her 5 year old sister to add the green.   "N" took direction from me as to where to place the green, then when she finished, I took a brush and softened out the "leaves".   I also added some branches to give it more depth.   Then, I hung it up.    Showing their mom and dad was so great!  Thank you to this family for another great experience!

I like it on my wall....I think I could convince "K" to let me keep it!

Thank you Little Picasso's!

"K" took this picture with the birch tree masterpiece propped in front of her stove to show its size.  Here is what she said, " I have it up against the oven to show its size. Jill is a genius! She taught my girls through this painting. Yes, H (7) and E (5) painted this. Yes, I'm bragging. :)