Modeling a tree against the wall

Rather than placing a continuous row of structures against the wall on the layout, I decided to have a 3-D tree separating the structures.  This tree is between the varnish factory and the warehouse I am now constructing.   Instead of painting a tree on the wall I constructed a 3-D tree.  My first step was to paint the tree background on a section of card stock.

I glued a half tree trunk and a few branches to the painted background on this section of card stock.  The painted area is just a bunch of varied green blotches using acrylic craft paints.  The tree trunk and branches are from sticks from the garden.  Even though the layout section is only two feet deep it is easier to do the initial work off the layout.

The structure to the left is the end of the varnish company warehouse.  The left base of the tree card stock was slipped behind the fence.  The warehouse I am building will cover the right edge of the tree card.  The foliage is Silflor summer Beech tree material cut into small pieces and glued to the tree background.  After the initial foliage was added I added more branches projecting outward and the added more foliage to achieve a layered effect.  It looks good to me.  I placed an outhouse near the base of the tree.

I really like the Silflor products as well as other European company scenery products.  I can recall the early days of my modeling when my scenery products consisted mostly of Lichen and dyed sawdust. I also use a lot of natural scenery items such as dirt and small twigs.  The dirt needs to be finely sifted and the color can be varied by adding appropriate amounts of colored chalk dust.  When gathering scenery elements outside it is important to ensure there are no bugs in them.