A Painting of The Woods

I painted this for my daughter's boyfriend for his graduation present. I know it is hard to tell in the photo but I decoupaged torn maps on the canvas before I started. I tried to add lots of texture. It was a huge learning experience for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It took a lot of thinking to decide what a guy would like. I'm always doing things I like, but I didn't figure he would want roses or tea cups! Ha! This is actually modeled after a scene in a card game that he likes to play. I liked the whimsical, "Tolkien-esque" look to it, and that was sort of what I was going for.

It is done on a stretched canvas, 16X20, and is done in acrylics, mostly. I used various gel mediums to add texture and also used some water color. After I decoupaged the maps on the canvas, I sketched the big trees using water color pencil. I then was able to sketch in the other trees and path, etc. I watched a couple of You-tube videos about painting forests and sunlight. Then I worked on it with various acrylics and mediums.

It was so much fun that I am already starting another painting for my daughter as one of her graduation presents. It will be totally different from this one.

I took this picture of the corner to try to show some of the texture. I am going to link up to Paint Party Friday.