A Tree Blows in the Bronx

I've been working on a wall painting for a woman who works at Barnard. She's from St. Lucia originally, and she wanted the leaves of palm trees painted on her bedroom wall behind her bed.

Here's how it turned out:

When I went to her house I was originally planning on tracing a large print-out of palms, but I found it was easier to free-hand. In the pictures of palms I'd looked at, the width of the individual leaves seemed fairly consistent, so I used a single brush for all of the leaves so they would look consistent. I varied the colors, often ending with yellow tips, to convey movement and make them a little sundappled.

Detail view

The owner was very pleased with the final results (she even bought sheets to match).

Another blowing in the wind close up