Family Tree

This ladies origins are a mystery, but she had to come from somewhere....
Mostly just from my odd head and because I've been working with birds a lot lately and also the beautiful imagery that come with the tree of life stories that are in so many cultures.

I like the idea that the 'crown' of the tree is sprouting out of her crown.

And her roots are strong and deep.

I began with four things.....
A cabinet door I got at the resale store for fifty cents, Arch Top Triptych-8 inch and two sets of the 3D Chipboard Tree-6 inch.
I primed the cabinet door and cut up the trees and played with various configurations until I found one that looked good to me.

I set the pieces aside ( I used this picture as a reference for putting the tree back together later) and using matte medium, I glued in strips of old dictionary pages in long lengths that look like newspaper columns, but you can use any pattern or random style of your choosing.

After the paper dried, I used the center piece from the Arch Top Triptych as a template and lightly drew around the edge of the frame. I used this pencil mark as a guide for where to place my tree branches.
I glued them down and added a coat of matte medium and let it dry thoroughly.

Now comes the painting! I love playing with paint. The instant gratification that comes with adding color sings in my heart.
I used acrylic paints (colors will be in the supplies list) and some glaze to keep the colors translucent. I wanted to be able to see the words through the color, creating a layer of depth and texture.

Lots of airy blue sky and green, rooty depths. I made sure I painted the crown of the tree white because...

I want the (fairly) translucent single ply of the image from a napkin to show clearly and a white background makes the images stand out.
I peeled the napkin apart, making sure that the image is on a single ply of paper (most good quality napkins are three ply, make sure you have peeled all three ply apart and are using the single top image ply). I tore off the leaf bits I wanted to use, and yes, tearing is best, a cut line leaves an obvious edge and a torn edge blends right in. I applied a light coat of matte medium to the surface of the board and branches and the brushed more on the image pieces as I laid them in place on the top of the tree. I used my brush to sort of 'tuck' the napkin pieces around the tree branches, leaving a little air space as possible and bringing forward the texture of the branches.

Whilst letting this dry, I gessoed the arch top triptych pieces and glued in my chosen paper. Then gave it a nice coat of gold paint.

I used an image from an old cabinet card from 1900 (I scanned the image...I never use the originals) and colorized her dress with Copic markers and acrylics paints. I used an image of a secretary bird head and crowned it, adding tree branches to give the illusion that the tree is coming from her head, brain, imagination? You can decide!

And of course, I had to add my dots....

Thank you for dropping by!

SUPPLIES:
Arch Top Triptych-8 inch
3D Chipboard Tree-6 inch

Additional:
Copic Markers
Acrylic paints in;
Sap green, Chromium Oxide Green, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna
White, Ultramarine Blue.
Tim Holtz Distress paint in Broken China and Salty Ocean.
Graphic 45 Scrapbook paper from Botanical Bella
Dictionary pages
Liquitex Matte Medium
Liquitex Glazing Medium