“If Trees Could Talk”

I finished a new mixed media collage piece last week called “If Trees Could Talk”. When I look at the 100+ year old trees around my house, I wonder what stories they could tell if only they could talk. They have seen so much in their days…changes of season, animals that have come and gone, maybe some romance, or children climbing their branches, or reading a book beneath…. They have seen storms, drought, and other untold hardships, yet they stand containing their mute stories. Those are the thoughts that inspired this mixed media art, done on a wooden panel.

I first covered the entire panel with paint and collage. I used corrugated cardboard, map pages, an old postcard, feathers, and cutouts from books and other fun things. Then I used gesso and a teal color of paint to paint away everything that was not tree or earth. I used the Bark color Derwent Inktense watercolor pencil to define the tree, and touched up with some paint. I kept layering and painting until I was satisfied.

I added a ghostly owl and bird to a couple of the branches, then took a pencil and added a hint of leaves and snow to represent different seasons, and some trees in the distance.

Since there was corrugated cardboard where I wanted the chickens to go and it would be hard to paint on, I cut out card stock shapes for chickens, then painted them after I stuck them on the board, adding book page cutouts along the way.