Demonstration
Falling for You

Let Love Inspire You

Because trees have leaves that fall, they are ideally suited to being characters in a love story. In this project, you’ll begin with a sketch of two trees “falling” in love, and then add colored collage paper, acrylic paint and gel pen details to embellish your love story. To warm up, you might want to close your eyes and remember what it felt like to have a big crush. Journal or play music to enhance the memory. Start sketching, and let your feelings flow into the trees as you draw. You’ll be surprised at how emotional and beautiful your trees will be when you let your heart lead your hand.

STEP 1: Gesso the Panel

Apply a coat of white acrylic gesso to the entire surface of the 8" × 10" (20cm × 25cm) wood panel using a 1" (25mm) flat. Allow the gesso to dry completely.

STEP 2: Sand the Panel

Once the gesso is dry, sand the surface of the wood panel with fine-grit sandpaper to make it nice and smooth.

STEP 3: Trace the Wood Panel

In a sketchbook, trace the outline of the wood panel so you have a correctly sized rectangle ready for your sketch.

STEP 4: Sketch the Trees

Using a pencil and your sketchbook, sketch the two main trees that will “fall” for each other in your painting. In this composition, it’s helpful to place one tree higher in space than the other so its leaves can appear to be falling toward the other tree.

STEP 5: Sketch Your Background

Pencil rough outlines of rolling hills set under and behind the two trees. Add a circular sun shape between the two trees in the sky. You’ll be embellishing these later with collage.

STEP 6: Choose Your Main Color

Is there one color you’re drawn to for the piece? I knew I wanted to use red-orange for the falling leaves, so my first go-to color was red. Flip through a Pantone book or a selection of chips from the paint store to find a red that you really like.

STEP 7: Choose a Background Color

For your background color, choose something that will make the main color stand out. With red as a focal color, a great complementary color is blue-green. Find a piece of scrap paper in blue-green to use as a reference and as part of your collage.

STEP 8: Choose the Rest of Your Palette

With your main and background colors in mind, flip through a Pantone color book or a selection of paint chips to come up with a pleasing assortment of colors.

STEP 9: Make a Reference Sheet

Once you’ve picked out your colors, lay them out on a neutral ground, such as a sheet of kraft paper. Jot down notes for where the colors might go in the painting. Note which colors will work for the sky and which are best for the trunks and leaves. You can use this reference to mix your acrylic colors on a sheet of palette paper.

STEP 10: Paint the Surface

Using a 1" (25mm) flat, apply a coat of blue-green (half Phthalo Blue and half Phthalo Green) to the entire surface of the wood panel.

STEP 11: Mix the Medium

After the blue-green dries, use a palette knife to mix some acrylic gloss medium into your Payne’s Gray.

STEP 12: Create a Vignette

Use the Payne’s Gray gloss and a 1" (25mm) flat to lightly color the edges of your piece. This will create a cozy vignette for your trees as they fall in love. Allow the piece to dry.

STEP 13: Trace Your Drawing

Once the background is completely dry, turn your drawing over and place it on top of a light box or against a sunny window. Using a pencil, trace the image onto a sheet of tracing paper.

STEP 14: Transfer the Image

Turn the image back over so it’s oriented like your original drawing and tape it to your board. Go over the outline of your trees and the rolling hills with a pencil.

STEP 15: Check the Transfer

Remove the tracing paper. You should see a pencil outline of your sketch on the panel. By pressing the pencil along the lines of the drawing, the graphite on the back of the tracing paper is transferred to the panel. This is the reverse transfer method.

STEP 16: Trace the Hill Shape

Grab the tracing paper you used for the sketch transfer and use it as a collage template for the hill shapes. Pick the first hill you’d like to collage. Turn your chosen collage paper pattern-side down, apply the tracing paper template to the back and draw over the lines of that first hill. When you lift up the tracing paper, you will have pencil marks for the shape of that hill.

STEP 17: Cut Out the Hill Shape

Cut out the hill shape using the pencil marks as a guide.

STEP 18: Apply Adhesive

Apply heavy gel medium to the corresponding hill shape on your painting. Gel medium makes a great adhesive.

STEP 19: Place the Paper

Glue down the collage paper hill.

STEP 20: Brayer the Collage Piece

Cover the glued-down paper with a slip of wax paper and roll over it with a brayer. This will ensure that the paper adheres to the surface without any pesky air bubbles.

STEP 21: Finishing the Collage

Continue collaging the remaining hill shapes using the same method. You will end up with a beautiful landscape for your tree love story!

STEP 22: Paint the Darker Tree

Beginning with the larger tree on the left, use slightly watery Raw Umber and a ¹⁄₂" (13mm) flat to paint the tree trunk and bigger branches.

STEP 23: Paint the Thinner Branches

Use a no. ²⁰⁄₀ liner to paint the delicate tapered branches of the tree in the same Raw Umber as the main trunk.

STEP 24: Paint the Lighter Tree

Next, use Yellow Oxide mixed with Raw Sienna to paint the other tree. Gently pull the paint out to the tip of each branch using a no. ²⁰⁄₀ liner.

STEP 25: Create Leaves

You can either paint individual leaves or use a leaf punch with red scrap paper to create small leaf shapes. You can also combine both methods. The important thing is to have fun adding leaves in a variety of reds and yellows.

STEP 26: Apply Glue

To add the leaves, apply a dab of glue (I used an acrylic glue pen) to the back of each leaf.

STEP 27: Place the Leaves

Create a pretty pattern of falling leaves in various colors. Make sure they get progressively closer to the other tree.

STEP 28: Paint Additional Leaves

To finish painting the leaves on the left-hand tree, use a no. 00 round and paint leaves in Napthol Red, Pyrrole Orange and Pyrrole Orange mixed with Titanium White. Be sure to leave some branches empty to imply the fallen leaves blowing in the wind came from them.

STEP 29: Add Bright Leaves

For the tree on the right, use Yellow Orange Azo and a no. 00 round to make bright little leaves.

STEP 30: Paint the Sky

Use a ¹⁄₂" (13mm) flat and Phthalo Blue to paint rolling strips of blue into the sky above the trees.

STEP 31: Add Lighter Strokes

Add some Titanium White to your Phthalo Blue and paint more rolling strips of lighter blue above the darker ones.

STEP 32: Collage a Sun

Find an interesting circular shape in a piece of collage paper. It can be a mandala, a flower or anything round. Glue it onto the painting as the first layer of your collaged sun, using acrylic gel medium or a glue pen as an adhesive.

STEP 33: Add Shapes

Find a slightly smaller circular shape and glue it into the center of the first shape. This creates another layer of interest.

STEP 34: Add Marks

Using a no. 00 round and Phthalo Blue mixed with Titanium White, vary the sky even more by adding interesting marks. Try lines and ovals in thin and thicker marks until it looks balanced and pretty.

STEP 35: Connect the Trees

Use a white gel pen to show that the trees are connected, maybe even soulmates, by drawing a line between them that loops into a heart midway and ties them both together beneath the ground. Draw hearts going up one or both tree trunks using a pink gel pen.

STEP 36: Add Flowers

Echo the coupled-up theme of the painting by adding two turquoise tulips with a gel pen.

STEP 37: Make Final Touches

For the final touch, add a few stars with a white paint pen.

Tell the Story

What story does your painting tell? Is only one tree “falling” in love or is this a case of mutual attraction? How does the patterned paper you’ve chosen echo the love story? What other elements echo the story?

These trees also tell a love story. If you pair human characters with trees, they will each underscore the other’s emotions.