Wall hanging for free

I obtained the picture frame at the left from work. The glass had broken and someone was throwing it out.  I decided that it was still perfectly good for something.  Though I didn't have specific plans, I have a bad habit of collecting things that I think might have potential for something eventually (which is about anything I come across). Then years passed. I moved the frame with us, but it still remained exactly like it is on the left--until last night.

I had been toying with the idea of making it into a piece of art for my living room.  I considered putting some fabric over the frame but I decided against it because I wanted to make a branch.  Unfortunately, for the branch idea, the space I wanted to put it in required it to be vertical, so I decided to do a tall skinny tree with yellow leaves.

I used the same grey paint I used to paint the vase as well as the same white I used to paint the table, both of which were left over from Patrick's work.  The yellow is just some acrylic from an art set I got for Christmas when I was still in High school. I mixed it to match the yellow in my leaf fabric. That made the grand total cost to me $0.

The backing to the frame is some kind of fiberboard. I just painted it with a few grey coats.  I then free-handed the tree with the white paint. I considered drawing it with pencil first, but I know from some previous not so great experiences that I am actually much better at painting than drawing. I then went over the whole thing with the white again to keep the grey from showing through.  I then added the yellow leaves with two coats.  I finally added the white bird.  I went through with some more grey at this point and made a few touch ups, notably thinning down a branch that was too fat for where it was on the tree. I think I like it.