Ok.. I did this a long time ago during Homecoming week for our float in the parade. This year's theme was movies and the Senior class got "Lion King" so I painted the sunset and cut the tree out of cardboard.

This was done with very limited time... umm maybe 12 hours total over the course of less than a week...

The board itself it as tall as me if not taller.. which is 5'2" btw... and was somehow attached to the back of a trailer. Particle board is very difficult to paint on.. and looks like this >[link]

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Now for the interesting part.. how I did it. Some of it's pretty funny now that I think about it.

I used 4 colors of paint total, red, orange, yellow and black... toward the end I was painting with a piece of torn cloth and a mostly-broken cheap foam brush.

The tree was sketched out by me on a piece of cardboard then cut with fabric scissors and wire cutters with the help of of other people cuz it was hurting my hand. >.< And then spray painted black.