Simple Doodle Trees Painting For Tu B'Shevat

Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for fruit bearing trees is this coming Wednesday night, so now is the time to make some simple tree-themed crafts to fill your home with joy! We are fortunate to live in Israel where we witness the blooming of the very first fruit tree, the almond tree, right around the holiday, so the holiday is especially anticipated. This first sign of spring in the dead of winter is something very special. and certainly brings great joy to those of us who are paying attention. Of course school children celebrate this event and there is a song in hebrew about the blooming of the almond trees, but it is something special for every age. I generally photography the blooming almond trees each year, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, lets get started with tree themed crafts by making a simple doodle tree painting, that you can enjoy just for the sake of creating something, or use as a sign, or even cut out the trees to make a garland, or napkin rings, or place cards for your Tu B’Shevat seder! Okay, time is of the essence, lets get started!

You’ll Need:

white paper, watercolor if you want to cut the trees out
acrylic craft paint
wide paint brush, like a chip brush (or whatever you have)
a black waterproof marker, mine is a brush marker
a neon pink paint marker (optional)
q-tips (optional)

How To:

Paint a first layer of color, using several colors, and apply wide brush strokes of paint to the paper, with the brush strokes vertical as seen above
Doodle some basic tree shapes as shown. If you need to, draw with pencil first and then go over with pen, but try to just go with the pen only, we are not looking for perfection!. You can always fix mistakes in the next step!
Now, paint around the trees with a background color, in my case pink.
Once background has dried, go over black tree outlines again, and add some tiny pink dots on trees that are shaped like fruit trees.
That is it, great looking, simple and so sweet!
Use this technique in so many ways: cards, signs, wrapping paper, paper to wrap around a can as a pencil holder, and much more. Cut out the trees to make garlands, napking rings, cake toppers, gift tags and so much more!

And if you are creating in a sketchbook, as I did here, rejoice in filling another page or two with something that you can have on hand as reference for years to come, and that tells the tale of your creative journey! The painting on the left was done in the same way, and I’ll put the link to the instructions for that later today. Happy Tu B’Shevat crafting!