When I was growing up, we had a set of ornaments that I wish we still had today. They depicted the 12 Days of Christmas with 12 mercury glass ball ornaments, each celebrating one of the 12 Days with an image outlined in gold and glitter. I don’t know if they were a gift to my parents or a purchase made during their earlier married life, but I will always remember them.

The November Design of the Month gives a nod to one of the Top 5 of the 12 Days. These are the ones we see depicted most often, as they are more easily remembered due to their early mention in the line up of the classic and repetitive chorus. As this design came together in early fall, the tree took on more deep reds, fiery yellows and oranges.

Going full Christmas in a design in November is impossible for me to resist, so the golden pear tree with the rich green background immediately followed! You may also choose to skip right to Christmas and save painting a fall tree for one of our other bird designs. (We have 3 new bird designs coming in 2024!) I get completely carried away with Christmas making this time of year and I will never apologize for it! As a matter of fact, this partridge and these pears will be making multiple appearances over the next month giving you more and more ideas for your holiday making fun!

My original intention for each of the 2 backgrounds was to paint one flat rich color. No texture. I know! Not at all like me to skip the opportunity to add texture, but I really wanted it to be pure and simple. In the end I was a “solid flat color failure”, because I gave into the urge to dry brush a little shimmer of gold over the canvas! So, I am pulling for you to succeed where I failed and see if you can stay flat and pure or if you also opt for a little dry brushing action. Be sure and post and tag @mixedmediaheadquarters so I will know! As for me, if my addiction to texture is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Let me know if the cartoon like quality of the leaves makes up for my inability to keep the background flat in achieving the overall simplicity I was going for in this design. Do you also like simple? This is the time of year when we need simple more than usual!

As mentioned above, the elements of this design with be showing up a lot this season as I bring you fun ideas for days so you can use them in your holiday making! So grab the easy to follow video instruction, templates, written guide and supply list TODAY by clicking HERE!