Oak Tree Mural, Day Three

On Day Three of painting the oak tree mural at St. Anthony’s Retreat Center in Three Rivers, I showed up and stared at the mural for awhile.

Which ladder? Keep spreading around the corner? Go as high as possible with the taller ladder? Ask for the extension ladder? Stand on the floor and add leaves from the bottom up?

I decided to keep building up, adding to, and detailing the branches to the left of and over the door as high as the taller ladder would allow. 

Because I was doing the same thing I did on Day Two, it didn’t seem as if I was making any progress. Lots of ladder climbing, and then later, a decision to change the color of green for the leaves. 

I thought this would be a 3 day project and now I know it will be 5-6 days. 

That’s fine. St. Anthony’s Retreat is one of the best places I have ever worked: 1 mile from home, all the staff are friends, perfect conditions, quiet, WiFi, and LUNCH!! (coffee too).

At the end of Day Three, visible progress has been made. Incremental, but still visible. In order to make a believable tree, much staring, evaluating and thinking is required.

You can see how much fuller it is above the door compared to the first photo in this post. You can also see that an extension ladder will be necessary. 

Weird. Afternoon sunlight has erased some of the left side branches in this photo.

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4 Comments

  1. As always, I am in awe of Jana’s talent! God has blessed her with His creative nature,

    • Thank you, Anonymous! My art is simply imitating what God created initially.

  2. Are you going to add leaves to the entire tree? I think it will look like a creepy, scary tree without them. Especially right next to the entrance to the chapel! Marjie Bartels

    • Marjie, yes, way more leaves! First I must finish all the branching branches branches branches and even more branches and oh, let’s not forget twigs. Wow, this is taking much longer than I expected. The leaf green I used on the lower left isn’t right, so those colors will need to be mixed and corrected before leafing my way along the rest of this giant tree.

      I might need a nap.

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