Tree Painting

All the Free Stuff 2' x 2' plywood Gallon of primer paint spray-paint primer brush used for primer Drill and mixer bit Sander Circular Saw Costly stuff FolkArt Dark Green and Black paint, $1.54 each Decoart White Paint, 0.88 cents Brush set, $2.49

I begin to paint using dark green, black and white paint. A lot of how I find my colors is just by mixing the three paints together until I am satisfied with a color. I had to do several coats of paint to make sure it would stick. And out of pure laziness, I used the spray-paint primer to cover up the grids I traced earlier.

My dad and I got in contact with a contractor friend of ours and we "borrowed" a 2' by 2' plywood from the house our friend was working on. I then began to take measurements as to where my dad would cut the wood.

I began to draw a grid on the boards to make it easier to sketch out the image. I found that making a mistake would be difficult to erase.

My dad then cut up the wood into three parts, as the mural was going to be a triptych mural. After the plywood was cut, I sanded the plywood so that when I paint, the hairs wouldn't get caught or the boards to begin chipping. I then mixed some old primer paint and painted the plywood with primer. I did two coats of this and two more coats of spray-paint primer.

At first I wanted to paint trees native in California for the mural. I soon found that difficult as some trees were similar such as thickness, how high the trunk is when branches begin to grow, and the pattern of how branches grow. I decided to go with something simple. And where else to go for a simple pattern than Pinterest!