One project down…and 200 million to go! I finally got one of my many projects done!!! I painted one of my garden shed murals.

I really think this is a project that anyone could do, just break it down to mini-steps. I’m really into American Folk Art so I decided on Shaker’s Tree of Life (I’m doing a Willow Tree on the other side). I looked at a picture and free-handed it on the wall:

If you are really artistically challenged you could either look at a picture of a stencil-which would show you just where and what to draw-or you could order a stencil.

After I had my picture drawn, I painted it one part at a time. I did the tree trunk and branches first:

Then I added the leaves:

And lastly my flowers! All in all it took me about five hours, but considering that I haven’t picked up a paint brush (artistically) in about ten years, I was pretty proud of the end result.

I was surprised that I forgot just how much I love being an artist! I fully intend to get some paints and canvases and use the gift God gave me. After all, I figure He gave it to me for a reason, right? What gifts do you have that you aren’t using?

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