Painting Fallen Branches
The Set Up
Go for a walk and gather fallen branches. Even before the paint comes out, your table will look alive piled with twigs, sticks, and curved limbs. Cover the surface with a drop cloth, set out jars of poster paint, brushes of every size, and water for rinsing.
The Making
Paint never sits politely on bark, does it? It soaks in, skips over ridges, drips onto the table, and sometimes runs the length of a branch before settling in the cracks. That unpredictability is half the fun! Keep turning the branch and notice how every new angle asks for a different mark. Some strokes flood colour into the grooves, others leave streaks that almost glow against the wood.
At Smudge, we love standing the finished branches upright in a pot — suddenly the studio has its own autumn tree, bold and bright and impossible to ignore!
Variations
Try chunky brushes on thick branches for big gestures, or tiny detail brushes for fine lines that trace the bark. Once dry, wrap parts in yarn, add beads, or layer on more colour until the branches feel like a mix of painting and sculpture.
Materials
Fallen branches
Poster or tempera paint
Water jars
Brushes in a range of sizes
Drop cloth or old sheet
Optional: yarn, beads, glue