The initial idea of this mushroom tree came from my mother through a random text. She had seen this tree with mushrooms on it from a place in Asia and at night the mushrooms really glow.
There are so many brilliant unexplainable things on this planet. Did you know that some scorpions glow under UV lights? I actually saw this once in a zoo. No one knows why they do this but it’s pretty fascinating.
There are even new technologies and cameras that can see colors that our human eyes cannot. But the animals can. Those little things that glow in the night are mysterious and a bit magical.
So how could I create this tree? I only knew I wanted it to have a more abstract look so I had the idea to make the tree trunk a paint pour. Let me explain this process.
Paint pouring is acrylic paint but is mixed with different mediums to allow the paint to move around the canvas. Its name pour means exactly that. You pour it on. It has to be kept horizontal instead of on an easel because the paint is so thin. There are many different processes you can attempt while creating a paint pour.
I knew I wanted a simple-looking tree against a dark background so I used a base color of black. The black base is thin paint and I poured it on a large canvas, covering the entire thing. This also allows you to add your colors on top of the black, so those colors can move around more easily.
This is always my favorite part. I’m not sure what the correct term for this process is but I call it cup explosions. It’s where you take a plastic cup and cut a hole in the bottom of it. You then put the cup facedown over the base coat and pour layers of colors into the cup. As you begin building up these colors on top of each other, the cup starts to explode. The color underneath moves over the canvas. It’s very satisfying to watch.
The colors I chose were different tones of brown, yellow, orange, and green. Colors you may see in nature. After adding three-cup explosions next to each other, it was time to move the paint. Picking up one end of the canvas, tilting it up to allow the colors to move together and in a straight line creates the tree-like base. I was very happy with the look, now it was time for the paint to dry.
About a week and a half later I wanted to give the tree base some highlights in certain areas with metallics. These are not paints but actually highly pigmented inks. I added copper, gold, and silver to brighten the bark.
Fast forward another couple of drying days, I could now prop this canvas up onto my easel and start painting the mushrooms. I let the paint and brush do most of the work here. Mixing globs of fluorescent green with yellow, I pushed in shapes of mushrooms onto the canvas. Then I grabbed my white paint pen and highlighted the mushrooms.
Now for the fun part. Making the mushrooms glow! I have used some glow paint before but I have learned that you need to apply a lot of layers. It’s hard because you cannot see the glow paint when you apply it. So you have to kind of use your memory of where to put it. This new glow paint I bought was a DecoArt paint and ultimate glow. After purchasing it, the sun charged it on my 30-minute drive home. When I pulled into the garage, it was already glowing. I was excited and couldn't wait to use it.
The sun had gone down, and I had already applied one layer of glow paint. It was going to need some charge, so I pulled out my studio softbox and switched on the light. Then I brought the painting into my bathroom and turned out the lights. As my eyes adjusted, I could see a faint glow. Two more layers of glow paint and this thing really shines in the dark!
I was pretty pleased with how this came out. I loved the look of the entire thing. It was simple and pleasing to look at during both day and night. The contrast was nice and I could see it looking amazing in almost any room. Another way to bring in a piece of nature and some of the beautiful wonders of our planet.
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