Family tree as a creative Christmas gift for parents.

This family tree painting was ordered by a client looking for a creative Christmas gift for his parents. He wanted to have a lake with a family home in the background. Right away I thought of summer, long lazy days, and a lot of green everywhere. When I think of summer I think of people relaxing in Adirondack chairs. So I painted my client’s parents sitting in Adirondack chairs in front of their own family tree. The painting has a lot of green foliage in the background.  I even used light green for the background of the family member’s portraits.

Naturally, I wanted to portray my client’s parents enjoying what they enjoy in real life. Not surprisingly, it was golf for the dad. I do paint a lot of golfers! Although, personally, I struggle to understand why men love golf so much. But I digress. In my painting, my client’s father is resting one hand on a golf club and holding a golf ball in the other. The dad is dressed in a shirt featuring the logo of his favorite sports team – the NY Giants.

A woman after my own heart, my client’s mother enjoys painting with watercolors. So in the artwork, I depicted her holding brushes and a palette. As if she is in the middle of working on a painting. To make this detail more personal I decided to make it look as if she’s painting her own home. Therefore, the family house appears twice in the painting.  Once in the background and the second time as a painting in progress on an easel.

Additional features

Per my client’s wishes, the rest of the family members got depicted as framed ‘headshot’ portraits. I painted them hanging on the tree branches above the parents. I used an oak tree for the family tree. Quite appropriately for a genealogical tree, I arranged the family members’ portraits chronologically. The 3 siblings + 2 spouses are on the bottom branches.  All the children ended up in the upper branches in frames slightly smaller than those of adults.  I wrote everyone’s names in a ‘playful’ font on leaves next to their portraits. The names of the couple’s parents got written on the tree roots.

I placed a banner with the family’s name at the bottom of the painting.  My client requested an inspirational message to be added to the artwork. So I placed it on a wooden plaque hanging on the tree trunk.

Family Tree illustration style: Full-body portraits of the couple with the rest of the family painted as framed ‘headshot’ portraits.

Medium: Watercolor, Acrylic, and Ink on watercolor paper

Size: 18X24

If you’d like to order your own hand-painted family tree painting for your parents please visit my Shop