Willow on base with light string

The tree is painted - lots of different colours blended and dry-brushed to imitate bark. I used paintbrushes with very long handles to reach between the branches. It was tricky to negotiate all the curves, and intertwining limbs. Everytime I turned the tree around, or upside-down, I discovered a patch of bare paperclay that I had missed. Even now, there are little dots where a paint bubble has popped that will need to be retouched.

The string of tiny lights was white, so I painted it green for camouflage. I see some white bits where the paint scraped off as the light string was wound through the canopy that need touching up. The batteries and case will have to be hidden. (Something at the base of the trunk - a bush, perhaps?) I glued on pretty little mauve and white flowers to shade the light bulbs.

I painted the bottom of the "cradle" green, and am in the process of glueing artificial leaves over it. You can see the overlapping tips peeping over the edge.

The base is a slice of real tree trunk. I cut foamcore and crushed the edges of it, to create a slight rise, as if the tree is on a gentle swell of ground - not quite a hill, but not flat ground either. I will be covering it with artificial grass, so I've painted it brown, for earth.

I had to secure the willow to the base, so I took a wooden cylindrical block from an old set of building blocks, and glued it inside the hollow trunk. Then I was able to attach the tree to the base with a screw, and some wood glue.