Pakistani culture as an inspiration for a custom family tree created for a parents’ 60th anniversary

Painting custom family trees is a pretty awesome job, but there are 3 particular reasons that make my job really amazing:

#1. I get to learn new things every time I’m working on a new family tree project so I’m never bored.

#2. I REALLY get to use my imagination because I have to constantly come up with unique designs for each one of my family tree paintings.

#3. The best thing about being a family tree artist is being constantly reminded that long-lasting love still exists, and it’s possible to be happily married to someone for decades.

I was reminded of all three reasons as to why I love what I do while working on one of my recent projects.

I have received an order for a custom family tree paintings for a client’s parents’ 60th wedding anniversary.  My client informed me that his parents live in Pakistan, the fact that I got really excited about.  Whenever I work on a family tree illustration that’s going to another country I view it as an opportunity to discover something new about that country’s art, culture and history.

To get inspired to create a painting that not only represents a family, but also reflects the family’s heritage I first make sure to familiarize myself with the country the family is from.

Family Tree Painting inspired by the Pakistani art

What did I actually know about Pakistan?  I tried picking my brain to dig out anything I remembered about Pakistan.  Pakistan borders with Afghanistan. It’s a nuclear nation that disputes Kashmir with India.  At one point the country was led by Benazir Bhutto, a woman that I found very inspiring when I was a little girl.

Not much to go by artistically  …to say the least.

I needed to get inspired! I sat down in front of my computer and did an extensive search of Pakistani traditional, decorative and modern art.  Fortunately, I was able to discover a wealth of visual information.  There were bright colors (which I absolutely LOVE!), floral motifs, and geometric repetitive patterns and shapes that I simply fell in love with.

As I continued with my research, ideas began to take shape in my head.  I knew I was going to make this family tree painting different from my other ones!  I’d paint it in a decorative folk-stile.  The painting would have beautiful bright colors, branches with soft curvy lines, and paisley leaf inspired leaves with everyone’s names written in a font reminiscent of the Urdu (the language spoken in Pakistan) letters.

…and that’s what I did.

Hand-painted family tree art personalized for a Pakistani family of 10

A Family Tree Painting in a decorative folk style

The painting came out looking like none of my previous family tree art.  One thing that was VERY different about this particular family tree was the fact that I made the tree itself  ‘grow’ out of Dal Lake, a lake I’ve never heard of before, but found breathtakingly beautiful.

Dal Lake is my client’s parents’ favorite spot to vacation and for good reasons.  It has bright colored houses on it’s banks and there are very distinct looking brightly paitned boats gliding all over it’s surface.  Seeing this amazing place made me want to incorporate it into the painting.  I placed the couple celebrating their 60th anniversary in a boat, and used the lake as the background for the painting.

There are 8 children in the family, and in order to separate each sibling’s family I assigned different color leaves to each sibling’s branch.  I kept the colors bright and cheerful throughout the painting, and for inspiration I continuously referred to Pakistani decorative art I found particularly charming.

Getting inspired by my own art

Painting a family tree for a couple across the world is always exciting, but what I liked the most about this project had nothing to do with Pakistan’s geographic location.  For me the most special part was seeing the photos of this older couple about to celebrate THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY and still looking happy to be next to one another!  In most of the photos they sat side by side, oftentimes holding hands…  They just looked so content next to each other.  After 6 decades together that is!

Thinking about their photos still makes me smile.  I want that!  I want everyone to have that!  What could be more beautiful than wanting to hold your partner’s hand after spending a lifetime together with him or her…

***If you have a special occasion coming up and are considering one of my custom family tree paintings as a unique gift to give to a special someone (or a couple: parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, close friends celebrating their anniversary), please don’t hesitate to contact me to request more information.


Save

Save

Save

Save