A tree with a South-West flavor
16x20 in acrylic & ink on canvas
This was an exciting challenge to tackle. How to give a tree a new flavor?
A new color palette, a soft watercolor-like background, and icons were my solution.
In this tree, each family member is represented by at least one icon. The mom and dad have a few extra treasures spread out. It has an overall circle shape to represent the family circle. It is a tree with a solid trunk, as I would imagine a tree needing in a dry place, and to complement the cactus on the sides. The soft background also representing a beautiful sunrise.
As cacti were a chosen symbol, it was fascinating to learn about all the different varieties.
All the flowers on the tree are based on different cactus' flowers. I hear is beautiful to see cacti in bloom, but hard to catch it, some only last for a day. So now, this family has a collection of blooms that won't fade.
Here it is how it all happened:
Little they knew, they helped me achieve a goal of trying a different way to present my family trees.
We were first going to try a sepia on sepia effect, but I don't think that would have been enough contrast to give it interest, in the first rough you get a bit of that idea. Although the colored flowers would have stood out more. That was a difficulty with this one, giving the flowers color, get not making them pop out and call attention just to themselves.
Overall I am pleased with how it turned out, and the best part was to receive a thank you message from the receiver, that made my day.