First, go check out
this post on the "Domythic Bliss" blog on "Windling Trees".
It inspired me.
Terri Windling is an amazing artist, writer, editor, and owner of a fabulous dog named Tilly who lives in Dartmoor. In an earlier time, she painted those lovely trees on the walls of a cottage in Devon. I love painting on walls. I've done it many times, and was lucky enough in my youth to have parents who
let me paint murals on my bedroom walls. Sure, most of those got painted over in time, though my Egyptian tomb paintings are still there and someday I'll post pics of them.
But for now -- Windling Trees! Or rather, Variation On a Windling Tree. First, I went out and sketched some trees -- Winter is perfect for seeing their bones.
Then I came up with a rough draft of an amalgamation of these sketches for the wall space I had in mind.
Please ignore that stain in the lower right. I really shouldn't eat, read, and sketch all on the same coffee table.
I drew the tree onto the wall freehand, which was difficult and hard on my feet/knees from all the standing for long periods and getting onto and off of the chair needed to reach the high spots. Then I started painting.
The trunk turned out to be too thick -- I still need to go back and trim it down a bit. Fortunately, I had cleaned and repainted the whole wall first, so still have the background color paint available. Whew.
I decided I didn't want a bare tree, though I do love the look of the ones Terri Windling did. I added leaves, some on the branches, and some falling through the air.
I really like the leaves, and unlike the trunk/branches, they were fun and quick to paint.
I put the framed pictures back up.
Here is what it currently looks like -- as mentioned, I'll be trimming down the trunk width a bit, but on the whole, I'm quite pleased.
I might also add a bird or two!
