All that is needed for this tute is Paint Shop Pro, a nice Sunset Gradient and bit of an imagination! *L*
I used the Gradient called "Autumn" in the above painting for this tutorial but other sunset gradients
will work or you can create your own.
 

The above image came from my own mind, I did not use any reference material to "paint" it. This
tutorial only serves as a guideline to show you how to paint your own images. Open your mind up
when you paint, think of places you've seen that wowed you in the past and let your minds eye
put it on canvas! It doesn't matter if it's exact, we all see things differently, that's the beautiful of
painting. It would be a boring  world if we all saw things the same, now wouldn't it?

I enjoy looking at trees, they have such strength and character! Each crook and bend in a tree tells
a story of what the tree went through as it was growing. Next time you're out for a walk or a drive
look at the trees around you. Note the bend in the limbs and think about how the environment and
wild life around it has shaped the tree into the majestic plant it is.  Most of us only see the beauty in
trees that have eye catching foliage in the fall or beautiful blooms in the spring but take a minute
to look beyond those things to the trunk, limbs and bark of the tree. I think you'll be surprised how
beautiful each tree really is. Okay, enough babbling *L*, let's get on with the tute!

1.) Open a 600X600 transparent canvas.

2.) Set your foreground color to black, background should be off during this tute.
Add a new Raster layer naming it black  if you wish.
Use your Selection Tool set on Rectangle, Antialias unchecked, to select the bottom 3rd of your
canvas. Flood fill that section with black.

3.) Make Layer1 your active layer.
Set your foreground to the Autumn Gradient or the one of your choice. Flood fill Layer 1 with the
Gradient.

4.) We will be working with Layer 1 first. Click on your Retouch Tool and set to these settings.....

5.) Notice how the top of your gradient has lines in it? I want you to start pushing at the top where
the darker part of the gradient is. Click and hold the push tool down, make circular motions as you
go around the area to make dark clouds. Pulling down the darker area but leaving lighter areas to
define your clouds. Below is a screenshot of what mine looks like.....

This screenshot is resize at 70% and optimized at 15% so yours will look somewhat different.

6.) Change your Retouch Tool to Soften with these settings.....

Go around your clouds softening them a little.

7.) Switch back and forth between the Push Tool and the Soften Tool until you're happy with the
look of your clouds.

8.) Now make your Black Layer your active layer. Set your Push Tool to these settings.....

9. Use your Push Tool to push the black area up to make your tree.  Your tree can take on any
look you want it to have. It can have lots of branches or just a few large ones. It's up to you and
what your imagination sees. By pushing upwards you get strong black lines, but by pulling down
a little here and there you'll get highlights of the sky tones reflecting in your branches and trunk.
As you play you'll see how your tree will start to take on some character and how this technique
works.
If you make a mistake or place too many branches, you don't have to undo, just blend the area
around with the push tool until it vanishes back into your sunset. Cool huh? *L*

This is what my tree looks like so far....

10.) Now you can leave it like this if you'd like, but I want to show you how easy it is to make
foliage for your tree.
Save a copy if you'd like before continuing.

11.) Set your foreground color to #171E08 Click on your Airbrush and set to these settings....

 

12.) In a circular motion spray some areas of foliage on your tree limbs. Make tight scribble
areas as you spray. Don't panic and hit undo like you'll be tempted to do *LOL* It'll all come
together when you add some highlights in the next step!

13.) Now change your foreground color to #607723 and spray some highlights on the foliage
you just made. Just touches here and there to make it stand out!

14.) Once you're happy with the foliage then change to the Soften Tool set to these settings....

Now use this brush to go around the foliage area to soften the look some.

15.) Set your Retouch Tool back to Push with the same settings we used to make our large tree
except charge the size to 2.

16.) Go to the black area that makes your horizon, push up a little black to make some trees in the
distance. Use the same techniques we used for making the larger tree to make the  trees/shrubs/grass.
Change between size 1 and 2 to make some blades of grass across your horizon. For the foliage
on the smaller trees, I just used the push tool to push the black around in a circular motion to indicate
foliage! Once I had the horizon area like I wanted I switched to the soften tool with the same settings
as above and made a couple passes to soften the areas of my grass and trees.

STOP... If you'd like to give your image the moon effect below then save a copy
of it UNmerged!!

That's all there is to it, merge the layers, resize and add a nice frame or whatever you'd like to do.
I resized mine by 70% to use as the header for this tute and optimized at 10% to reduce the file size.

 I hope this tute has shown you how easy it can be to paint in Paint Shop Pro and will inspire
you to create more paintings like this!
 

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Use your unmerged copy for this effect!

Okay, so slap me! This tute was suppose to be finished but once I finished my image I continued to
play with my results and showed the moon effect below  to Emily  (Auntie Em) and she said I had to
add the steps I took to get this look! *L*......... so here it is.......

Make your gradient layer your active layer. Go to Colors, Colorize and set to these settings.....

Ggo to Colors, Adjust, Brightness/Contrast, with these setting....

Go to Effects, Illumination Effects, Lights, with these settings....

Go back to Illumination Effects but this time, use Sunlight set to these settings....

See what you think? If it's too dark and you want it lighter you can go to Colors, Adjust,
Brightness/Contast and adjust the brightness to make it lighter. This is my end results...
Pretty Stunning  with just a few changes!! Save however you'd like!

I do hope you've had fun with this tute and that I've convinced you that using the Push Tool is easy and
can be fun!!

Until next time, God Bless.
Connie