My Non-Paintings of Trees

I have a couple paintings going at the moment, with nothing to show yet. So since it's been awhile since I posted some art, I'll post some non-paintings I've done.

The 1st is a family tree I made my mom for Christmas about 5 1/2 years ago. I had seen a KIT to make one in a catalog, but decided if I had to make it myself anyway, I'd rather have control over the designs & colors. :) So I made my own. I used 3 different types of paper for the leaves... females get a light green, males get the dark green & then the filler leaves are a pretty pattern. The trunk was cut out of 1 whole sheet of large (16x20?) brown, textured paper. I just wrote the names on each leaf with a scrapbooking pen. My mom & dad are in the center of the tree with my mom's side on the upper right, my dad's on the upper left. Me, my 3 sisters, our spouses & children take up the bottom 3 limbs. We've added 4 grandchildren since this was made, but I was smart enough to fill an envelope with plenty of light & dark green leaves for us to keep adding!

I made the other tree last fall, when we were in need of a large wall-hanging. (And this is LARGE. It's 2 feet x 3 feet) As you can imagine, our house is chock-full of paintings, so I wanted to go a different route. I knew I wanted a large TREE. Originally, I was going to try & recreate the canopies of Live Oaks that I loved so much when we lived down south. When we lived in Jacksonville, we always went up to Amelia Island, and if you've ever visited the Amelia Island Plantation, you know what I'm talking about. It is just GORGEOUS. But as my materials started coming together, so did my vision... and this is what I wound up with. A large tree with multi-fabrics & 3 little bluebirds representing my 3 little ones. My favorite part is knowing where each of the fabrics came from. No, I didn't go out to buy any of these especially for this project! This tree is a trip down memory lane. :) The fabric came from:

* pillows & duvet cover from our bedroom we had in our 1st house
* a tea towel I bought to make handles for a totebag
* fabric leftover from handles I made for another totebag
* the brown suede (trunk) is leftover from vests I made for Brett & Davis when they were cowboys for Halloween a couple years ago
* and 2 more of the fabrics are leftover from couch throw pillows I had made
*oh, and a pair of old jeans!

No sewing (although that was the original plan if you can believe it), just glue. Simple & free! :) My favorite combination!