Revisiting......

More Stems and Twigs.....

You will think I have done Nothing at all, Dear Readers, from looking at the pictures of the stems of the Lilac shrubs, but I assure you that I have spent the weekend adding layer upon layer of paint to those shrubs! The point of the four shrubs is to make them look like the same shrub.... in different seasons... so I needed to duplicate the same paint layers I had used on the first one! That one was somewhat experimental, but the truth is, each layer of paint that is added makes for a more realistic end result. This is because the bark on a shrub (or tree) is never really just one color. It is many many colors, seen in different light  and shadows and blending to form an "impression" of "bark color". Most people see this as brown... but upon close inspection it is usually a very grayish brown sometimes with a more tan hue and sometimes with a red or black hue.... which is challenging to duplicate! But I was repeating what I had already done on the first shrub... which was to start with a dark gray layer that would be visible in any "crevices" in the bark once lighter colors had been layered over it. Above you can see one of the shrubs part-way done.

The next layer went to the opposite extreme... 

almost the color of bare exposed wood... 

but it adds to the depth you see when other colors

 are added over it and not every bit is covered completely.

The third layer tries to close in on the "color"

 people think they are seeing when they look at bark...

 a drab brownish gray..... again leaving

 highlights of the previous layers visible in spots....

And the next layer is a darker more brown less gray layer....

really just brushing on highlights over the other layers,

 not trying to cover it completely at all.

Which I did for all the rest of the shrubs! 

Now at least they are all at the same layer of color depth!

 I am sure I will continue to add layers...

 I don't think it is completely right yet... 

but it is getting closer!

And at the same time I need to add the color to the rest of the twigs... 

which so far have only been painted on one of the shrubs! 

And in between all those layers of paint...

 

 

 I did complete blossom number Thirty-two!

And in the box with the ever growing

 group of double blossom stems!

(Remember there are already four blossoms attached to the shrub..!)

 

And because it seems so boring to just show layers of paint....

I will share with you Dear Readers, 

a rare peek into the Tree House....

because the sun came to play for a minute or two on Saturday morning...!

 (You have no idea how rare a thing this has been this year!)

 

 

Do you even remember the Tree House? 

Standing so patiently beside The Folly.... 

on the Other side from the lilac shrub and the Glass House.....

It is the home of the Rats... 

it is approximately one-quarter scale (1:48)

At the very bottom, nestled in the ground between the roots is the Kitchen....

(I have not built anything on this project since 2014....!

 But it is still not finished at all...)

The next floor up is the salon.....

Since the leaves are off the RL trees

 the sun is shining way into my workroom

for a few minutes early in the morning....

Sorry about the reflections....

 I needed to snap the pictures 

in a hurry before the sun ran away....

The next floor up is the Library.....

 where so many items have fallen on the floor....

Nobody has been in to tidy up in quite a while....

I do love this room....!

And the bedroom on the next floor.....

( Oh!.... There is somebody home! 

So sorry for intruding...! 

It is rather early to be visiting!)

And the floor above... the Bath Chamber.....

With the most beautiful Tub in the world....!

All these rooms are lit with LED's....

 and the entire Tree is just a Tree beside The Folly....

I have not had the Time or the Focus 

to work on the next rooms in this project...

 perhaps when I am done with the Lilac Shrubs, 

I will know better how to finish the Tree!

So I will keep working away at the Lilac Shrubs, Dear Readers, 

In the hopes that I will be mastering techniques

 that will be useful on so many other

of my unfinished projects!

Because Someday I will be 

Revisiting the Tree House... 

to make Twigs and Stems again!