Sand and Sisal

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Twilight Art

antiquing· art· Crafts· decorating· DIY

Twilight Art – Tree of Life

Shhhhh! My daughters’ simultaneously elbow and hiss at me in the dark movie theatre. Ok, call me crazy. I know this is an intense scene but WOW, check out that art in the Cullen home!  My mouth drops open and it’s not due to the handsome, romantic Edward standing before me. The artist in me can’t resist. The art in the Cullen home is stunning! The decision has been made in an instant. I MUST MAKE THAT!

Twilight Art by Sand & Sisal - Tree of Life

Cullen Home Breaking Dawn - Tree of Life Painting

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the painting was “The Tree of Life”. I’ve paid close attention to the props in all the Twilight movies and they are not placed there randomly by some prop hand. There is meaning and purpose in every accessory. This scene in the movie depicts the struggle between Edward & Bella about the viability, value, and risk of their carrying their unborn “vamp-child”. The Tree of Life hanging on the wall is dominant in the scene.

Cullen Home Breaking Dawn

Tree of life… it just struck me. Then look at what was written on the first page of the Twilight series…

But the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

thou shalt not eat of it:

for in the day that thou eatest therof

thou shalt surely die.

                                     Genesis 2:17

Twilight Art

Now I’m not interested in debating the moral value of this movie series. I’m interested in the beautiful artwork by artist Raine Bedsole. I knew I wanted to try to create a version of this art myself. It has been on my to-do list for a year now. And with the final movie in the series Breaking Dawn- Part 2 being released this week, it was time to get painting!

I started by tearing out some of my favorite passages from the books and staining them with my morning coffee grounds. A few of the dark pages I deepened with watered down burnt sienna acrylic paint and dabbed it on with cheesecloth.

coffee stained book pages

I arranged the pages the way I liked and then working one page at a time, I applied a thick layer of matte sheen Mod Podge to a large 30″x 40″ canvas and pressed the pages onto it.

book pages

Next I brushed on a heavy layer of Antique Mod Podge. This stuff is awesome! It instantly gives any paper an antiqued look. You can use painter’s tape to tape off any areas that you do not want the Antique Mod Podge to go. It will yellow the bare white canvas. 

Twilight Art - Antique Mod Podge

I allowed it to dry for a day and then began painting my tree of life on it with white acrylic paint. I haven’t painted a tree in almost 20 years since art school. It was so fun and felt so good to paint!

Twilight Art painting

After it was finished I sealed the entire canvas with the satin sheen Mod Podge and built a frame for it made from poplar wood.

Twilight Art Tree of Life

I think the piano room is a fitting place for it to reside. Bella’s Lullaby music is on the piano next to it.

Bella's Lullaby (800x533)

Twilight Art - Tree of Life by Sand & Sisal

I’m so pleased with how my Twilight Art came out! I’m looking forward to the premiere this Friday too.

By the way….. I’m Team Edward. (wink!)

Kim

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Comments

  3. Wow, amazing! I couldn’t paint a tree, therefore I needn’t try… but your copy is really really beautiful. I’m also loking forward to the release of the movie here next week (I think), and I haven’t seen the “first part of this last part” either. Hopefully there’ll be events where they show the two movies right one after the other… I also love the whole Cullen house.

    Jule

  7. How orignal! I love this and showed to my husband. He paints but hasn’t in a while and didn’t know about Mod Podge. He loves the look of it and said it’s much better than the method he used years ago – tea.

  11. Absolutely beautiful, Kim.

    As the mother of all boys, I don’t know a darn thing about the Twilight series–but you don’t have to be a Twilight expert to recognize that your painting is lovely. I love the way you did the entire thing from book pages to frame. It’s wonderful!

  22. i love this and was thinking how nice it would look in different colors for the trees, like a dark brown and make the background quite light….. thanks for the inspiration I love it.
    Pam

    • Great tips on the Art which led me to find the original Artist, Raine Bledsoe. She had two paintings inside Dr. Cullen’s office, one white, and one brownish on the other side of that same wall. LOL saw it in a still shot.

      Thanks for your version. I loved it, that piece also drew me in as it did you.

      She responded to one of my two emails. Still don’t know which book she used for the background. Her tree didn’t have roots like yours, nor did she share with me her works title.

  27. Well done! I too love the art from the Cullen house. I recently took pics with my smart phone of some of the art (that I thought I could reproduce) right of the TV while I paused the tivo at just the right spot in the movie. As I love trees, I’ll try the picture you choose too. Thanks for the tutorial!

  29. I saw the tree in the movie also and couldn’t shake the idea that I had to make one if my own. I was using Google to find a screen shot and found your post. I love it! And you are definitely not alone with the want.

  34. ahem . . . art school?!? why did I not know this before? No, the better question is, why aren’t you painting more? Yes, yes, I know, family,kids,Life. hahaha. That’s precisely why I started painting!

    It’s a beautiful piece, Kim. Lovely job. And, yes, you & I must talk 🙂

  35. I loved the picture the first time I saw it in Breaking Dawn 1, I’ve been looking for the artist and or the picture for a year now. Your piece has been the only thing I have found close. Love your work. My husband always teases me about looking at the set decor more then the movie. Beautiful work.

  37. This really caught my eye in the movie and I had the same thought as you – recreate it…. This is stunning and thanks for the step by step of the background pages… Hmmm maybe I’ll make mine after the holidays!

  38. I love this! It is such a sophisticated way to have a reminder of my love of Twilight, but still remain “adult” about it! I also think this would be a beautiful gift if you used love letters instead of book pages. Did you have copied pages of the book or did you use actual book pages? Thanks so much for sharing! I am definitely inspired! creativepzazz at gmail

  39. Just saw this on Pinterest and HAD to stop in and say WOW!!!!! Not being a Twilighter I hadn’t seen the movie version so I’m sooooo glad I’ve seen yours! AWESOME piece….thanx so much for sharing!
    xXx

  41. Kim, Congratulations on such an amazing job! And for sharing it! Did you notice that there is also a Black Tree on the right hand side, but nowhere near as compelling as the white one.
    Thank you

  42. Awww. I agree, my husband likes the movies (I know?!) I love to look at the Cullen house and all the fun artwork. You did a great job, thanks for sharing. (I too love my MP)

  46. Hey there, this looks great! I have also been thinking about recreating this particular piece of art. Did you choose random pages from books or did you stick to what the artist used for the original? Once again, love your piece!!

    • Hi Amber! I have no idea what book the original artist used in her painting. But I went through the Twilight series and tore out my favorite pages to use as the background. My brother in law commissioned me to paint a different type of tree, the Tree of Gondor, from the Lord of the Rings series, and I used pages from his favorite chapter.

      Thanks so much!
      ~ KIM

      • Hi Kim, I was thinking about using pages from my family history, and also thinking about making a gift for my mother in law of her family history for mothers day does it have to be on certain paper I want to make sure I do it right, and does it have to be that big, I am so worried that I won’t paint the tree right, what do you think, you did such a great job I hope that I can do half as good as you did Susan

      • That’s kind of what I thought of upon seeing the original, although I thought of the one on the door to Moria. Cool idea to use the pages from twilight! did you use acrylic paint to do the tree or oil?

  47. I haven’t been able to find antique modge lodge or satin mod podge. Could regular modge podge work just the same?? I love yours. Its amazing!

    • Hi Adrian! Thank you so much! Do you have an ACMoore Craft store? I can always find it there. Michaels doesn’t always seem to have it in stock, at least ours doesn’t. You can also check Wal-mart or order it off of Amazon. Yes, you can use another sheen of Mod Podge if you desire, it just won’t have that extra aged look.

      • Thanks so much for replying. I started on mine today. I’m going to be thrilled if it turns out to be even half as amazing as yours. Thanks again.

  48. do you have an opinion about cotton vs. linen canvas? I’m planning to make this for my fiance as a wedding present. I’m not an art major and I have no idea if one would cause a problem…. i just know that cotton is like half the price. Thanks!

    • Don’t worry about it Brock. Just pick up a nice sized, affordable canvas from your local Michaels, JoAnn Crafts, Hobby Lobby, etc. Those will all work just fine. (ps- look for a 40% off coupon too if you get it at Michaels!) 😉

  49. Hi Kim =) What a beautiful picture that you created!! I am an art novice and just wondered if it would be doable to paint a tree like yours? Also, I wondered what book pages the artist used.. do you think there is anyway of finding out? Kind regards, Jae =)

    • Thank you so much Jae. I have done a bit of research about the artist and nothing I could find would discuss which book pages and which books she used. I’m just as curious as you!

      • Hi Kim, I just checked back… thank you for your reply! I am practicing drawing the tree and think I will mix up the book pages with some Shakespeare …
        Just one quuick question, when you put the coffee grounds on the pages how wet should they be, and how long should I leave it on? Kind regards from London, Jae 🙂

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