The Secret Food to Paint Tree Branches Like a Pro

The Secret Food to Paint Tree Branches

With the flick of your hand paint tree branches with a common vegetable from your refrigerator. I was preparing Lacinato Kale for cooking. I’ve seen on the Dr Oz Show an easy tip on how to shred the kale leaves off of the stalk. Just hold the thick end of the stalk and right below wrap your other hand around the whole stalk and leaves. Now slide your hand right down the stalk to the end. Viola, you have just the kale leaves ready to be washed. So I’m looking at all these stalks and how they look a little like a paintbrush. At the time I was working on a landscape painting Ocean View Delight an original watercolor that had a large tree. I’m always looking for painting techniques to loosen up my paintings. So I grabbed one of the kale stalks and dipped it into the watercolor paint on my palette and started to paint the small branches of the tree. Using a flick of the wrist, dragging and pulling the stalk I tried different techniques to get a variety of lines to paint tree branches. Because of the unpredictable shape of the kale stalk I was able to add more natural looking branches and twigs. I beat back my habit of perfectionism with a stalk of kale! Kale seems to be the popular vegetable with its great health benefits. I found a way to get another useful benefit out of this large green leaf. Next time you are looking for inspiration, be curious, take a look at things you use around the house. Open up your creative process with curiosity and mindfulness. This is how I made a paint brush from a stalk of kale to paint tree branches. To view the finished painting follow this link. If you liked this watercolor technique please share, thanks.

“Ocean View Delight”, 10 x 14 inch watercolor, ©2015 PJ Cook